World Walker
by KGtrobairitz
Summary: Eylara is unprepared for the consequences of discovering magic and leaving one world for another. Can Richard, Zedd and Kahlan rescue her from her own power before Darken Rahl finds her - or worse? OC-centered. My first story; please review!
1. Chapter 1: Wild Magic

**Author's Notes: **First of all, I do not own any part of Legend of the Seeker; it is all the property of Seeker Productions, Disney and ABC Domestic Television. I am grateful for the opportunity to dabble in a world I have come to love!

Secondly, I welcome any reviews, constructive criticism and comments. I am a newbie, but I'm no stranger to having my work reviewed. However, I do ask that any words you have for me be civil, not degrading or rude in any way. Civil and friendly is how I like to interact with my fellow writers, and I expect to be treated in kind!

Next, I am very aware of how many liberties I take in this tale. I'm not an expert regarding the series, and it definitely shows! However, I have done my best to remain true to as much as I understand. My main characters' abilities are meant to "stretch the limits," if you will. If I continue to write more stories centered around her, things will be more focused, I promise.

With the exception of the three main characters from the series (and a few names tied to them), every character and place is my own creation. Much of the magic, including spoken spells, is my own as well; anything that isn't will be quite obvious to anyone familiar with the series.

I do include some subtle references to the books the series is based off of. It's nothing blatant, but if it's an issue, I will deal with it promptly.

Now without further ado, I'm pleased to introduce you to Eylara Bardehaven, a new adventurer in the world of the Seeker!

* * *

**World-Walker**

based on the television series Legend of the Seeker

**1 - ****Wild Magic**

The three travelers had set up their camp in the midst of a dense pine forest, a few hours' ride from a swiftly rushing stream that lay to the east. They had been sleeping since the earliest hours of the morning. Now, as the sun was barely hinting at its arrival with a pale wash to the eastern sky, the wizard awakened. Slowly, he sat up and glanced around, adjusting his eyes to the dim red embers of the long defunct fire and then peering beyond, into the trees. He felt he ought to be looking for something, but wasn't certain what. He could feel something coming, but it wasn't from his gut or his reason. No - whatever it was, he perceived in the depths of the magic that flowed through him, inside and out. His eyes flicked to the sky, scanning. Ah yes. That was closer to the source.

The Seeker and the Confessor woke at nearly the same instant. He lay still for a moment, blinking as he focused on the dimming stars overhead. She saw the wizard and sat up as well, glancing upward before looking to him. "Zedd . . ." she started, her voice carrying more than one question.

"I'm guessing you both feel that, too," the wizard said, his gaze still turned skyward.

"I feel . . . something weird," said the Seeker, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "Nothing bad, is it?"

"Remember what you've learned about magic, Richard," Zedd told him, standing up. "You said it yourself: magic isn't good or bad; it's the person who wields it that determines what it's used for. In this case, it's neither. It simply is."

"Well, can you tell where it's coming from or what it could be?" asked the Confessor.

The wizard shook his head. "I'd have told you already if I knew, child." His eyes found their focus on something in the sky, and he knew he had discovered the source of what had awakened them. "All I know is that it's causing some big ripples in the flow of magic - and it's coming closer."

Richard huffed a sigh and stood up, helping the Confessor to her feet before stooping to pick up the saddlebag that had been pillowing his head. "Well, let us know if you figure it out, Zedd." As he straightened again, he looked up, squinting as he noticed what the wizard had spotted. It didn't look like any shooting star he'd ever seen. "Kahlan, look at that!" The Confessor glanced up from what she was doing at her horse's saddle, her eyes following the line from where Richard was pointing to the sky. Her brow furrowed when she saw it: a glowing orb that was now quite a bit bigger than the other stars. It almost looked as if it was pulsing as it dropped. The larger it became, the faster it seemed to move.

"That's it, isn't it?" Kahlan questioned. "The reason we're feeling those 'ripples' in magic?" The wizard gave a single nod, his eyes still fixed on the orb, which now looked as though it were made of balled up lightning.

"We're not in its way, are we?" asked Richard, shifting warily from foot to foot.

"No, but I think it'll end up somewhere not too far from us," replied Zedd.

Kahlan watched as the sparking, pulsating globe became roughly the size of an apple and disappeared behind the trees in the east. A muffled crack and concussion followed shortly thereafter. As if on cue, the edge of the sun peeked over the mountains. "Why do I have the feeling we're going to end up wherever that came down?"

"Because we are," said Zedd. Richard cast a questioning glance his way as the wizard stomped out the remaining embers and took up his own saddlebags. "It's extremely powerful; we all know that, because we all felt it. And since it isn't defined, we have to determine what it is and what it can do before Darken Rahl gets interested. If it turns out to be something he can use, we'll have another issue to deal with."

"It looked like it landed near the Edden Falls," Kahlan observed. "That's about a three hour ride from here. We can go right up to the river and follow it north. That should give us a good starting point."

Richard nodded. "Let's get going, then."

* * *

It was quite warm by the time they reached the river, which was somewhat swollen from the spring thaw and rushing by with noisy strength. The forest sloped shallowly down to the gravelly banks, and they stopped a moment to water their steeds. Kahlan suggested they follow the river on foot from that point forward, since the trees were thick enough to complicate a trotting pace. They walked for another hour before coming to a meadow that opened to a wide bend in the river. They could hear the rushing of the falls up ahead and were about to press on when Zedd held up a hand. "It's here," he said, just loud enough to be heard over the rapids. After taking a deliberate look around, he started out into the meadow.

Richard and Kahlan went forward as well, both glancing all around them and wishing they had at least some sense of what they were searching for. It was Kahlan who noticed the figure in the water first. She wasn't certain what she was looking at initially. As Richard and Zedd continued forward and slightly west, she walked out toward the eastern edge of the meadow. They hadn't gone far when she recognized the distinct form of a person in the river. "Richard!" she cried, breaking into a run. The Seeker spun around and looked after her. His sharp woodsman's eye spied what she was heading for, and he followed at a sprint. Zedd turned as well and let his legs lead him toward the river as he tried to see.

There was woman clinging to a log wedged into a submerged pile of boulders at the outside of the current closest to them. She was caught on the deep side; the water was shallow enough on the other side for Kahlan and Richard to run through it to the pile and climb over, where they could then reach her. Searching forward with his magic to discern whether or not she was alive, Zedd suddenly stopped still, a look of utter shock passing over his face. Not only was she alive, she was the source of the magical disturbance! It wasn't truly her fault, either, as he could tell from the untamed energy that was emanating from her. And if Kahlan and Richard got too close, it would be like a shock from lightning, since they both used or were sensitive to magic. "Wait!" Zedd shouted. "Kahlan, stop!"

Kahlan, being further ahead, approached the rocks first. The moment she set foot on them, an invisible explosion sent her flying backward through the air, clear back to the bank and straight into Richard, who had been several paces behind and coming quickly. Both of them crashed to the ground. Richard was dazed, but Kahlan didn't move. When his head stopped spinning and he noticed her lying immobile near his feet, he panicked and gathered her into his arms, trying vainly to rouse her. Zedd, coming as fast as he was able, stopped beside them and knelt, placing a bony hand on her forehead. He was quiet as he searched through her with his magic, trying to discern what had happened.

"Zedd, what was that?" Richard asked, the pinnacle of worry coloring his voice. "Is she alright?"

The wizard took his hand away. "Yes, she'll be fine," he answered, nodding. Richard was nearly the picture of relief, although he wouldn't be completely at ease until she woke up. "The magic overloaded her, and would have done the same to you if you'd gotten any closer. She just needs a little time to bleed it off; then she'll wake up."

"Magic from where?" Zedd looked out at the woman in the water, who was still hanging on to the log. She was clearly weak, probably drained within an inch of her strength. "From her?"

"Yes, but I don't think she has any choice in the matter," Zedd said, standing up.

"No choice? How can she not . . ."

"There's still much you don't understand about magic, my boy. You're just going to have to trust me on this. Now I'm going to go get that girl out of the water and bring her over here, and when I do, you'll be perfectly safe. I promise." Richard looked somewhat doubtfully out at the river-captive woman, then up at Zedd, and gave a nod. The wizard nodded in return and headed for the rocks.

As he came close to the water, he pressed his palm to the air in front of him. A sort of bubble formed around him, invisible until he stood upon the boulders. The magic pouring off the woman below suddenly became visible as it battered against Zedd's shield, causing the air to ripple like a taut sheet in the wind. Zedd knelt, and the woman slowly raised her head to look at him. Her skin was white with cold, her eyes red from exhaustion and exertion. With her last ounce of strength, she stretched out her hand. "Wizard . . ." she rasped weakly, her voice barely reaching him over the sound of the water, "help me . . ."

Zedd caught her hand just as her fingers slid from the log, and she slipped into unconsciousness. He pulled her from the rushing river and picked her up. Then, uttering an ancient incantation, he lightly grasped her forehead at the temples with his fingers, held the touch for a moment, and let go. He carried her to where Richard was in the meadow. Kahlan still had not come around, and they knew that they couldn't remain out in the open; they needed to go back into the woods to avoid being seen by any allies of Darken Rahl. Zedd watched both women as Richard fetched timber to fashion a couple of simple stretchers. It was nothing new for him; he had had to do the same thing when Zedd had been knocked out near the boundary at the start of their journey. After an hour, they were on their way, with Richard pulling Kahlan behind him and Zedd towing their anonymous guest.

It was late afternoon by the time Richard decided to stop. "We'd better set up camp here," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, and they probably will be too, once they're up."

"I can never pass up food," said Zedd, "and I'm sure you're right. Go do what you need to do; I'll get a fire going and do what I can to make these two more comfortable." Richard cast one more concerned glance at Kahlan and then disappeared into the trees in hope of finding forage or game.

* * *

Early evening had set in when Kahlan finally wakened. Richard was by her side in an instant, helping her to sitting. "I'm fine," she told him. "Just a little bit of a headache."

"I'm not surprised," said Zedd, passing her a bowl of soup. "Any closer to such unbridled magic and you might have been under for good."

"But where did it come from?" Kahlan asked. "All I saw was the woman in the water, nothing else." The wizard pressed his lips together and glanced over at their peacefully sleeping charge, who was stretched out beside the fire.

He'd been watching her for the hours they had been at their present camp, learning her appearance in the process to see if he could discern something of her origins. Some color had returned to her skin, and her long, dark blonde hair had dried into gentle waves. She was tall, around Kahlan's height, with a strong frame that was neither slight nor heavy. Her clothes seemed normal enough. She was carrying a small travel pack filled with some odd contents, which Richard had laid out so that they could dry. There were a couple of apples, but no other food to supplement a long journey. There was a quill, a bottle of black ink, and a leather-bound journal with a tie closure. She also had a small silver dagger. There was nothing to show that she had been traveling for a long time, and nothing told them where she had come from.

On her belt had been the oddest thing of all. At first, Zedd had thought she was carrying a sword, but once she was clear of the water, he saw that it was actually a long dagger. The surprise had come when Richard pulled it from the scabbard to let it dry out. The blade, issuing from a hilt and pommel of shining black steel etched with gold, was not metal. Rather, it was made of what they could only guess was a sort of crystal. It was so clear that, had it not been for the sharpened bevel of the edges and blood groove, one would not have been able to tell it was there. It gave a pure, almost musical ring when it was unsheathed. Richard and Zedd had both been able to tell that it was imbued with some sort of magic, but neither of them could tell what that magic was. They had simply laid it beside its owner and waited.

Kahlan noticed the strange weapon, looked at the woman for a moment as Zedd thought, and raised her eyebrows. "From her? That magic came from her?"

"Not on purpose, but yes," answered Zedd. "I don't think she was able to control it."

"Why not?"

"I've been thinking about that," said the wizard. "There's something very complicated about this girl, that much is certain. She's like a magical lightning storm: wild, unpredictable, incredibly powerful . . . Too powerful, in fact. The amount of magic flowing through her isn't something a normal person should be able to handle, even a gifted one. Humans have their limits." Zedd's face became grave as he looked up at them. "Assuming she is a normal person, the magic will kill her in little more than a week."

Richard's eyes went wide and turned to the woman. Kahlan frowned. "But if she's human," she asked, "why didn't the magic kill her a long time ago?"

Zedd shook his head slowly. "I don't know. It should be impossible. But here she is."

"Well . . . can't you do something to help her?" questioned Richard.

"Perhaps," Zedd answered. "If we can find a couple of quillion artifacts, we can drain the excess magic from her."

"We do have one," Kahlan pointed out. "That thing your old student tried to use to take away your powers."

"Yes, we have _one_," the wizard confirmed, "but we'll need at least one more to help her. Two more would be a safer bet. That's how much of a magical mess she is." Kahlan looked over at the woman and shook her head incredulously.

"I'm still confused," said Richard. "When someone is born with magic, do they start life with the magic out of control, like hers?"

"No," said Zedd. "The control is innate. Their Han extends outward to a range that's dictated by the strength of the magic flowing through given channels in a person's being."

"Then what would make the magic so wild?"

"She's got it flowing through _every_ conceivable channel with unheard of intensity, not just a few," the wizard explained. "In a sense, her Han is overextended, stretched so thin that her entire being has to exhaust itself to keep her alive physically as well as magically. Granted, some of those channels are where they should be, but the rest are flaring like a million watch fires with no one to put them out. No person's life force is meant to balance such power. That's what's killing her."

Kahlan looked startled. "But if that's the case, then . . ."

"There's no telling what she's capable of," Zedd finished.

"Might be easier to think of what she's _in_capable of," Richard muttered, running a hand through his hair. "By the way, how were you able to get to her without getting blown off your feet?"

"I knew how to properly counter the magic she was exuding," the wizard replied, as if dealing with such a thing was something he did on a regular basis. "I put a caging spell on her power when I touched her. It's a temporary fix, one that I'll have to make more powerful if she needs it again, and it'll stop being effective altogether at some point. It'll keep her from exuding the magic, but it won't prevent her from using it. However, while it is working, you two should be perfectly safe."

"Where do we need to start looking?" asked the Seeker.

"I know a few places that might have some," said Zedd. "But we're not going anywhere until she wakes up. She needs to answer some questions for us before we can be on our way."


	2. Chapter 2: Eylara

**2 - ****Eylara**

The sun had been gone for a little over two hours when the woman stirred. She gave a small groan as she shifted, her hands falling to the ground from where they had been folded on her stomach. Her eyes opened slowly, blinking as the flicker of flames changed the light to her right. Above her, the stars glowed softly down from an inky black sky framed by the silhouettes of tall pines. Quiet words and the shuffle of movement came from somewhere past her feet. She raised her head enough to see two people and was trying to sit up when a third person appeared at her side, helping her with a bony, long-fingered hand behind her shoulders.

The other people came closer, and she looked up at the one who was helping her. He was an old man, tall and thin with a shock of long, white hair and large eyes that she thought could be comical at one moment and full of deep wisdom the next. His lined face broke into a reassuring smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living," he said. "You've been asleep for the better part of a day."

The woman stretched her neck and rolled her shoulders, both of which popped audibly. "Apparently I needed it," she said with a short chuckle. She smiled as recognition set in. "You're the one who found me in the river, aren't you?" Zedd nodded and shifted back a bit to sit beside her. "And I'm guessing you were with him, even though I couldn't see you." Kahlan and Richard affirmed her words, and Richard offered her a bowl of stew they had saved from their dinner. She accepted it gratefully and ate several spoonfuls at a pace that impressed even Zedd, letting the warm food restore her further. "Thank you all so much," she said after finishing half the bowl. "I don't know how long I was out there, or what was wrong with me. I just . . . I felt like I was barely in my skin, and if I moved, I'd waste so much energy I might die." She looked at Zedd. "Was I sick?"

"In a way," the wizard answered. "And you still are, so you'll need to take it easy for a little while yet." The woman looked confused, but gave a nod and ate a bit more.

"I'm Kahlan," said the woman in white sitting a short way to Zedd's left. "This is Richard, and that's Zedd."

"I'm Eylara," the woman introduced herself. "Eylara Bardehaven. I was hoping you were the ones I'd meet first."

"You know who we are?" asked Richard.

Eylara nodded and looked at Zedd. "Zeddicus Z'ul Zorander, Wizard of the First Order and sworn protector of the Seeker. You have a brother named Thaddicus and a fondness for food." She turned from the surprised wizard to Kahlan. "Kahlan Amnell, Mother Confessor as well as the Seeker's Confessor. You're from Aydindril. You have a sister named Denee. You're one of six remaining Confessors in the Midlands." Having sufficiently astounded the Confessor, she looked to Richard. "Richard Cypher, the true Seeker, destined to defeat Darken Rahl. You used to be a woodsman in Hartland, but you were born in Brennidon. Your best friend is a man named Chase, who's also a woodsman and a boundary warden."

Seeing the unspoken question in all of their faces, Eylara blanched a bit. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know how odd it must seem that I know all this without ever seeing you before. But that's about all I can say; they're just facts about you. I don't _know_ you, since that can only come from being around someone. I just know that you're all good people. After all, a Seeker must be someone with an unselfish and self-sacrificing nature, and the Confessor and wizard who go with him on his quest can be no less."

Her last words seemed to get them to relax a bit, although she shifted uncomfortably under their silent scrutiny. Kahlan's eyes were searching her face intently, but Eylara knew why. Confessors had the ability to see the difference between the truth and a lie as a person spoke, even without the touch of Confession itself. It would be Kahlan's job to make certain this stranger posed no threat to the Seeker. She seemed satisfied enough at the moment, but continued watching as she asked, "Eylara, can you hear what others are thinking?"

Eylara shook her head quickly. "No; I'm no mind-reader," she answered firmly. "That was something I decided I never wanted to do. People's thoughts should be theirs alone, only made someone else's business when they feel it's appropriate."

Kahlan looked at Zedd, who nodded. "It's true," he said. "That's one channel in her that's being actively blocked."

Eylara was confused. "'Channel'? What are you talking about?"

"The magic in you, child," Zedd answered. "Surely you're aware of it."

"Well, yes," said Eylara. "I mean . . . I knew there was something different about me, and I guess 'magic' is as good a term for it as any . . ."

"'Different?" Zedd seemed taken aback. "Not to seem blunt, my dear, but you are truly unique in this world. I've never encountered anyone as powerful as you!"

She frowned. "What do you mean? I'm not - "

"When we found you," said Richard, "there was so much magic coming from you that it literally knocked Kahlan and I off our feet. She was out for hours."

Shocked, Eylara looked at the Confessor. "I'm so sorry! I had no idea . . ."

Kahlan shook her head, a forgiving expression on her face. "It's alright. Zedd said you weren't doing it on purpose."

"But you shouldn't have been doing it at all, which is why we're all confused," said the wizard.

Overwhelmed, Eylara held her head in her hands. "This . . . this is impossible. I didn't know things would be like this . . ." She looked up at the night sky incredulously. "Not like this . . ."

"Eylara," said Kahlan, "what Zedd said about you being sick is true, but not in the usual way. It's in your magic. We can help you, but I think in order for us to get a better idea of how, you'll have to tell us what's going on, why you're here."

Eylara stared at Zedd fearfully. "_Magic_-sick?"

"Too much of something is often the cause of illness," said the wizard. "Too much food, too much drink, too much heat . . . In your case, it's too much magic. I'd almost call it magic poisoning."

She had gone pale and cold again, and she swallowed hard, looking down at her hands. "I'll tell you my story," she said quietly, "but I think it'll be hard for you to believe. And it'll take a while."

"We want to hear it," said Richard. "Between Zedd and me, there isn't a poison we haven't been able to cure before." Kahlan gave the Seeker a sidelong glance and a small smile. His words also gave Eylara some reassurance, and she shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.

"Alright," she said, and gave a heavy sigh. "How to start . . ."

* * *

"The first thing you should know is that I'm not from this world. I don't mean the Midlands or Westland or D'Hara; I'm talking about this _world_.

"I'm still human obviously, and the world I'm from isn't all that different from here . . . in some ways. There are blue skies and oceans, mountains, forests, deserts and plains. What makes it different is what people have done to it. And there isn't really magic there. What people do know of it is misunderstood and misdirected. It may as well not exist."

"But if that's true," asked Kahlan, "how did you come to know about it?"

"Well, I wouldn't really consider that I do," Eylara replied. "It seems like we have the best understanding of it as children. We all pretend to have magic powers when we're little, and we love fairy tales and stories of heroes and battles between good and evil. We all wish we could really have powers like that, and I was no exception. I wanted powers so badly I could taste it. I would spend hours studying accounts of things some people were said to have been able to do. I remember reading about people who could move things with their minds, read people's thoughts, see the future, remember a past they'd never lived in . . ."

"Sounds to me like magic is alive and well in your world, not dead, as you say it is," Zedd remarked.

Eylara shook her head. "Ah, but it isn't that simple. People are afraid of what they don't understand. I'm sure that's not a foreign concept." The three looked at each other knowingly. "So others always tried to disprove what those people could do, and scholars would take them and subject them to test after test, trying to understand what they were doing while hoping to disprove it at the same time. May as well have been kidnapping. It was all so convoluted . . ."

"So people with magic would disappear, and everyone would believe what the scholars said," Richard noted.

"Exactly. Most grown people have so little room for imagination or the supernatural, it seems. Still, some were curious. A few were able to access magic in secret, but only in a very limited fashion. They were magicians (although most were just really good tricksters), witches and warlocks . . .

"Anyway, as I said, I had a really strong feeling that magic must be more than what we thought it was. But by the time I was in my last years of lower schooling, I had pretty much given up on getting to understand magic myself, and aside from that, the faith I followed frowned on magic as something evil that had no place in the interests of a good believer. Even so, as I was growing up, I noticed that I was really sensitive to the emotions of others. I was also good at listening and figuring out the right and wrong of things, and while I knew these were things that anyone could learn over time, I always seemed to be more able than most. I imagined it to be a lesser form of magic or something, but I never thought much of it.

I was also an accomplished scholar in my own right. I was good at reading, writing, sciences. I even had a couple of theories. One of them was really unoriginal; it was the idea that from the moment all things were created, all possible outcomes of that action came into existence in separate realms of time. Another idea I had - mine alone and one I never voiced to anyone - was that magic existed as a part of all creation and that people could tap into it. It wasn't good or evil, it just existed, and one just had to understand what it was and how to access it to incorporate it into their life."

Zedd smiled. "For someone who claims not to understand magic," he said, "you certainly have a firm grasp on the nature of it."

Eylara smiled and accepted a drink from Richard's water bag, then gave another collecting sigh. "Another idea I had, since one thing I did in my world was write stories, was really far-fetched. I wondered, what if the worlds that storytellers wrote about weren't their own ideas, but rather the results of magical inspiration? What if they were seeing places and people that really did exist somewhere else, maybe in one of those other realms of time, and were showing them to us, in my world, even if they didn't know they were doing it? I had no way to prove the idea, of course, so I just kept it to myself, gathering dust in the corner of my mind that kept my thoughts and desires about magic locked away.

Then one day last year, after I had turned twenty-one, I read a book. It was like some others I'd read, but there were aspects of it that were just so vivid and well-conceived that I'd sometimes see the places of the world it portrayed in my dreams. It took place in a world just like this, and it followed the quest of someone known as the Seeker who was accompanied by a wizard and a woman of great power known as a Confessor - by name, the three of you."

They were silent for a moment, and Kahlan's piercing gaze was pinning hers, still carefully weighing and discerning her words. Eylara made no attempt to avoid it, hoping instead that the Confessor would see the integrity of what she was telling them. Finally, Richard spoke. "So, you're saying that a book from your world told you about us? That we're the result of the mind of a _writer_?"

"No, I'm saying that this world was revealed to the writer through magic," Eylara corrected. "The writer made you known to me and the other people that read the stories, but you and your world were already here. No one believes that anything like this could actually exist, and no one would ever have believed my idea."

"Alright," said Zedd, "I think I have the general idea of what you're saying so far. But how did you get from your world to this one?"

"Not long after I read the book," Eylara continued, "my curiosity about magic resurfaced. Then all of a sudden, I began noticing a change in the abilities I told you about before. My ability to read emotions got more intense. People stopped coming around me, even my friends. When I asked one of them what was going on, she told me that she didn't know. Everyone just said that something about me was scaring them. They felt like I could see straight through them, and it made them feel guilty or something. I didn't understand it. I stopped going to school and started focusing on trying to bring whatever it was under control.

"I was also a martial artist back in my world - a fighter. My teacher was always telling us about focusing our energy from inside out when we fought, being calm and centered and releasing that energy at crucial moments. I had gotten pretty good at it, and it became my refuge in a world that was being more and more repelled by whatever it was I could do. The other students . . . they seemed fine with me, until I started doing something they couldn't explain.

"When I was sparring with them, I suddenly found myself right where I wanted to be. It was like I could send a pulse of . . . I don't know . . . 'enhancement' or something to my speed or agility or even strength. One day I kicked a practice bag so hard I tore the seams. They were scared of me after that. My teacher asked me how I was moving so fast. He knew I wasn't advanced enough to do what I was doing yet. I had to leave that school, too.

"It got to the point that I just wanted to be in a place where I could make sense of what was happening to me, where these things might even be considered normal. It didn't really occur to me just how much of it was magic; I thought I was just changing. I started thinking about this world, knowing that I would be accepted in such a place, since magic is just part of the workings of life here.

"Out of nowhere one day, I got this urge to go into the woods, in the mountains near the city I lived in. I loved going there, so I didn't think much of it. But something told me I might not be coming back. So I took my pack, a little food, writing stuff and a knife and just left everything else to destiny.

"When I got to the woods, I walked until I came to a really remote clearing. When I got there, I just felt I had to stop because something was there, something I couldn't see yet but would, if I really desired to do so. I did. I wanted to so badly, I could barely think about anything else. I spent the night praying, meditating, trying to answer questions that burned in my mind. Would I really leave if I could? Where would I go? If there were more to the magic in me than I thought, what would I want to do with it, or what _wouldn't _I want to do? Would I be willing to accept what happened to me if I became part of another world? Could I start from scratch if I needed to? I was just . . . so tired of feeling like I didn't belong in my world. Leaving it seemed like a logical next step.

"Suddenly, I could see what was there in the forest. It was a doorway, a path of magic. I just thought of this place, of the sort of people I wanted to meet . . . and I stepped through.

"It was like floating on light, knowing I was speeding through time and space but not feeling or seeing it. I don't know how long I was like that; it was almost like sleeping. Then I was here, high up in the sky, and I felt myself falling. I felt like some hidden electricity in my body woke up all of a sudden, shooting through me like lightning, and that's when I realized how weak I'd become. It was like I was trying with all my being to calm it down and hold it in, but then I was scared out of my mind at the same time because I was falling with no way to stop, so I couldn't concentrate. I guess I just got aimed in the right spot to come down in a lake next to some big waterfall. It swept me downstream, and I was trying to swim for shore, but my body just wasn't working. The second my hand touched that log, I grabbed it and locked my arms around it. I thought I was frozen there, and that weird electricity inside me wouldn't stop, so I didn't even try anymore. I just thought about staying alive, hanging on and hoping that someone would notice me. And you did. So, that's how I ended up here."

Again, there was silence as Richard, Kahlan and Zedd absorbed the story they had just been told. "A walker between worlds," Zedd murmured, tapping his fingers together pensively. "Strangely enough, I have heard of such a thing happening before, although it's always been considered nothing but a very old fairy tale." His eyes snapped to Eylara, and there was an excited gleam about them. "But from what you've just said, stories can apparently be more than what they seem."

"So what she's saying is possible?" asked Richard. "No offense, but it really seems like a stretch. I can understand the consequences of magic in general, even the idea of going between this world and the Underworld, but between _physical_ worlds . . ."

"You're the Seeker of Truth," Eylara countered. "You can question me in any manner you see fit for as long as you wish, and I won't be able to tell you anything different. If you need further proof, ask Kahlan. She's been watching me all this time and knows whether or not I've been making any of this up. She could use her power on me, and I'd still say the same thing."

Richard looked at the Mother Confessor, who nodded. "She's telling the truth," she said. "I haven't seen anything to the contrary in her."

"Eylara," said the wizard, "you said you thought about what you would want to do with magic if there were more to it in you than you thought. Can you tell us what you decided?"

"Well . . . first I thought of all the things I used to want to do as little girl: flying, moving things with my mind, healing with a touch, super strength, walking through walls. Then I thought about what might be more practical in a world like this. I considered transfiguration, shape-shifting, heightened senses, unmatched combat skills. In the end, I couldn't decide." She was quiet again, trying to find the correct way to word something. "I hadn't read this far in the story of this world, but I know most people believe in what they call 'the spirits.' Do you also believe in the Creator?"

Kahlan nodded. "Many do. He's above the spirits, setting the paths of destiny, watching over what He's made, especially us."

Eylara smiled, looking pleased with this revelation. "I believe in the Creator, too, although He's called something different in my world - even different things by different people. Anyway, when I prayed while I was out in the woods, it was to Him, because I couldn't decide what I would do with magic. Then I figured that if He was going to let me go somewhere else, when He could have just made me stay in my world and use what I could do for something there, then He could certainly decide what He would have me do with magic here. So I left it in His hands, asking Him to enable me to help with something most needed in the world." She gave a low, almost rueful chuckle. "I guess I bit off a little more than I could chew there, didn't I?"

"Ah, but to believe in the Creator is to believe that there is a reason for all things, even when they seem completely incomprehensible," said Zedd. "Hold still a moment, child." He touched her temples with the fingers of one hand, as he had when he pulled her from the river, and closed his eyes. "This ability to 'pulse' when you fight, as you call it, is strongly rooted in magic. It's permanent in you. So is your empathy . . . but you must be careful, because it can also work in reverse."

"What do you mean?"

"You can project your own emotions into others, making them feel what you feel."

"But I can't control how I feel . . ."

"Patience, girl, you'll learn it in time. Now . . . Hmm. That's interesting."

Eylara blinked. "What is?"

Zedd opened his eyes and removed his hand. "Do you happen to know the difference between Additive and Subtractive Magic?"

"I read about it in the book. One is based in creation, the other in destruction."

"Yes, and most magic-gifted people are given to one or the other, almost always Additive. You aren't attached to either. Right now your power is centered in Additive Magic. However, at any moment, that center could flip over, and suddenly you'll be wielding Subtractive." He sighed. "This complicates things."

"What will happen to me if that 'center' switches all of a sudden?" Eylara asked concernedly.

"I honestly don't know," Zedd answered. "Gaining the ability to do the opposite of everything you can do now would be the logical guess, since the magics are counter to one another. Instead of empathy, you might be able to project apathy. Instead of pulsing, you might end up draining, slowing or weakening, and most likely doing it to someone other than yourself." He touched her head again. "There are only a few other abilities I can pick out in you right now . . . seeing in the dark! Let's see . . . mind movement . . . Hm. Those are all I can name for the moment. But as I told Richard and Kahlan, every channel in you is open and fired up like a forge. If you can dream it, you can probably do it, but for me, picking through those channels to tell you what you're capable of would be like trying to pull individual strings from a tangle of yarn - a long and arduous task."

Eylara rubbed her neck. "Can I . . . use this power?"

"Can you?" said Zedd. "Of course. 'Should you' is probably the better question. You know how to control the pulsing ability quite well. I can help you learn to control whatever else you manifest, although I'm sure your own curiosity about magic has given you more basic understanding than you know. I cast a caging spell on you when I rescued you so that your power would operate within certain boundaries. But there's no telling how long you'll be able to use it, or what toll it will take on you physically. You see, normal people aren't made to handle the amount of power you're carrying inside you." He looked into her eyes then, his face filled with compassion. "I don't know a better way to say this, dear girl, but the magic has poisoned you so deeply that if we don't find what we need to help you before a week has passed, you'll be off to the Underworld before you've even come to truly know your new home."

Eylara's eyes went wide, and she started trembling. Zedd placed a hand on her shoulder, and Kahlan and Richard drew nearer. "I . . . I don't want to die," she whispered, tears shining in her eyes. She felt Kahlan's hand come to rest on her other shoulder. "I mean . . . I wasn't afraid of dying before, being sure of where I'd go afterward, and I'm still sure, but . . . I just got here! I want to be able to truly call it home and live out my days . . . I want to help . . ." She looked urgently to Richard. "I want to help you defeat Darken Rahl . . ."

"Eylara, listen to me." She looked at Kahlan, whose eyes were bright with conviction. "We are going to help you. We'll find what Zedd needs to help you drain off the excess magic, and we'll make sure you have the chance to understand it and live in the world you've walked into."

"It's going to be alright," Richard assured her. "Of all the people who could have found you first in the Midlands, you just happened to run into the ones who are probably most willing to make sure you'll be safe."

Tears escaped her eyes as she bit her lip, looked between the three of them and nodded. "I believe you," she said quietly. "I knew I was right to hope for all of you. What do you need to find?"

Zedd drew a saddlebag over from the log he'd been sitting on and opened it, producing a four-sided trapezoidal box that might have been made of pewter but was clearly something more. A pale white glow emanated from circular openings in the sides, and as Eylara watched, the wizard unfastened a clasp on the top of it and opened the box, revealing a pillar of illuminated teal-white crystal that rested on the back of a sculpted metal figure in the shape of a kneeling man. He was being very careful to keep it a good distance away from her. She was transfixed. "What is it?"

"It's called quillion," he explained. "This crystal has the ability to either drain or restore the magic in someone. It's the draining we're interested in with you, of course. But we'll need two more artifacts to do the job." He smiled and glanced sideways at her. "You're worth a couple more of me, my dear."

Eylara opened her mouth to say something and then shut it again, still staring at the glowing crystal. "Where do you have to go to find more?" she asked.

"Oh, I have a few ideas," Zedd replied almost nonchalantly. "The Tomb of Beleron, the ruined stronghold of Shadria maybe . . . Don't worry, dear one, we've plenty of places to look."

"And a short time to do it in," Richard amended. "We're going to have to get some sleep and be up before dawn if we want to make it to Shadria tomorrow. That's the nearest place."

"Actually, the burial mounds of Mizrak are closer, now that I think about it," Zedd said. "We can look there, too. Might have better luck there than at Shadria, actually."

"Well, then we'll look at Mizrak," said Richard, standing and stretching. "Either way, we need to get up early."

Kahlan gave Eylara's shoulder a comforting squeeze and rose as well. Zedd and the girl also got up, and the wizard offered her a saddlebag pillow in between him and Kahlan. "I'll take the first watch," said Richard, adjusting his belt. "By the way, what is that? I've never seen anything like it before."

Eylara looked at the ground where the Seeker was pointing and stared disbelievingly at what she saw. Her face broke into a grin as she stooped to pick up the crystal-bladed dagger. "Oh my g- . . . this is incredible!" She laughed as she held it to the firelight, examining every inch of it.

"So you . . . _don't_ know what it is?" Richard asked, perplexed by her reaction.

"Oh, I do," she replied. "I just didn't have it with me when I left where I came from."

"How is that possible?" Kahlan questioned, stepping in to get a better look at the weapon.

"I wrote about it." Noticing the confused look the Confessor was regarding her with, Eylara laughed again and held it up. "I had a dream once where I saw this dagger. There wasn't much to the dream, but I remember walking through the corridors of some ancient tomb and discovering this on a pedestal in the middle of a chamber. I didn't know what it was, and the last thing I did in the dream was pick it up and look it over. I wanted to keep the memory of what it looked like because it was so beautiful and unique, and I started writing stories about why it existed and what it could do, trying out different scenarios just to see how I liked them." She looked up at Kahlan knowingly. "I even wrote a story in which it came from here."

"What did you write?"

"Well . . ." Eylara turned the dagger over in her palm and then held it in the flats of her hands. "First I wrote what it was made of. The handle is black diamond steel, with the raised edges gilded in gold. There's a Thandorian sapphire embedded in the pommel. The blade is a mystery. I just wrote that it had been crafted by a long lost art known only to an ancient order of wizards that may or may not exist anymore."

"What does it do?"

"It wields light," Eylara answered. "That's all I know. Whatever that means in the context of this world, I've yet to find out."

"The sapphire has something to do with that, I'm sure," said Kahlan. "Thandore is in the Valley of Light; that's where the Sisters of the Light are . . . It would make sense for the weapon itself to come from there."

"Maybe we can ask them if we're ever near Thandore again," Richard suggested. "I've never heard of crystal being used as practical blade material before. It breaks too easily."

"That's another thing I wrote," said Eylara. "It's virtually indestructible. The blade is more durable than the hardest diamond. No one knows how it was even shaped, except the order of wizards that made it, of course."

Kahlan began arranging saddlebags and a cloak to settle in for the night. "What's it called?"

Eylara gave a small smile. "The Dagger of Dawn."


	3. Chapter 3: Possibilities

**3 - ****Possibilities**

She pretended to sleep for several hours before she simply sighed and opened her eyes, watching the dwindling flames of their campfire as she gave up trying to calm the torrent of thoughts that kept her awake. Richard was still on the watch, facing a point somewhere between the fire and the woods. He turned a bit as she sat up. "Can't sleep?" he asked softly. Eylara shook her head and rose, sitting again next to him so as not to disturb Zedd and Kahlan. "I guess I wouldn't be able to either, if I'd just been through what you have. My mind would be hard to shut off."

"Must've gotten all I needed earlier," she said, picking up a dry twig and absently poking at the soft earth in front of her.

Richard nodded subtly and looked over at her. "So, is Eylara your real name, or one you chose to fit a new life?"

She chuckled. "No, it's my real name. I guess . . . my parents picked a good one without knowing that it would work across worlds."

"Won't your parents miss you?"

Eylara's smile faded, and she looked at the ground. "They disappeared when I was twelve. No one knew what happened to them."

"Oh." She saw Richard's eyes sadden with a familiar pain. "I'm sorry." There was another moment of silence before he asked, "Did you have any other family?"

Her expression didn't change. "I had a brother named Darryn. He was two years younger than me. When he was old enough, he joined the military. He was a foot soldier, very brave and smart. One of the youngest men his battalion had ever put in a leadership position. They were on a secret mission in the mountains of a country in the north, and one night he just . . . disappeared from his watch. Nobody saw what happened. He just vanished." Her voice got quieter still. "Just like my parents."

Richard swallowed and shook his head. "I'm just finding every sore spot I can with you right now, aren't I?"

"It's alright; I know you didn't mean to." She scuffed away her scribble in the dirt with the sole of her boot. "I wonder though . . . Maybe, with this magic I've got, I can see where they are somehow."

"Well, don't try anything without talking to Zedd about it first, okay?" Richard cautioned. "You don't know what it might do to you."

"I won't," she said. "The last thing you all need is for me to kill myself faster." She caught a glint of metal out of the corner of her eye and saw the hilt of a sword protruding from Richard's belt. "Is that the Sword of Truth?"

"Yep." Slowly, so that the vibrant ring that normally accompanied the act wouldn't wake the others, he pulled it from its scabbard and held it out so that she could see. "Does it look the way that book you read described it?"

Eylara looked it over, a small smile returning to her lips. "Almost. I don't think writers can capture every single detail of something in their works, even if they are magic-inspired. They have to fill in a lot of blanks. It's better than what the writer described." Richard smiled as he put it back. "Anything looks better in person."

"What about your Dagger of Dawn?" he asked. Eylara produced it, holding it out in the flats of her hands. "You said you wrote about it with several possibilities in mind. How do you know which one was the right inspiration?"

Eylara shrugged. "I don't know. The fact that it turned up here seems to mean this is where it belongs. But how I got it without searching for it myself, I don't know. I might've accidentally conjured it through written magic, hoping it would somehow show up when I needed it most." She looked over at the slumbering wizard. "Maybe Zedd can tell me if that's possible."

"I'm starting to think anything's possible," said Richard. "As if things up to this point shouldn't have convinced me." There was a sudden hooting noise and a burst of rustling wings, and Eylara jumped and looked about in alarm. Richard grinned at her. "It's just an owl. Must've seen dinner."

"I knew that," she said defensively, collecting herself again and putting the Dagger away. "Knowing what something is doesn't always keep you from getting caught off guard by it."

Richard laughed. "I think someone doesn't easily admit getting scared!"

"I just -!" He motioned for her to keep her voice down. "I just did admit it!"

"Calm down; I'm only teasing you!" he chuckled softly. Eylara finally gave in to a smirk and shifted around again. They sat quietly for another short while before Richard questioned her further. "This book you read about us in - did you finish it?"

"Almost," she replied. "I think I'd started the last quarter of it before I started having to deal with my abilities. There were parts I skipped most of, too; they were pretty terrible."

"That's not reassuring," Richard muttered.

"You don't have to worry," Eylara said. "And please don't ask me to tell you any of what I read; that's almost like telling the future. It feels like cheating."

"I won't," said Richard. "I was just wondering what's going to happen now that you're here, since you weren't written into the story."

"I'd considered that," she told him. "It's important to understand that even when writers complete a story, they aren't able to get every detail of a journey or a quest across. It takes too long. Even when the story is divided into many books, details still don't make it in. The story of this world is so full of detail that I wondered how I could be here without altering it. So I came to a couple of conclusions. First, I decided that I could be here in another realm of time. After all, if the theories are correct, this isn't the only way things are going in this world. I'm not in any of the others, so you'll still complete your quest."

"That hurts my head," Richard groaned, raking his fingers through his hair.

"Mine too, trust me," said Eylara. "The other conclusion was that no matter what, I would do my best to help the Seeker without interfering with the events I know have to happen. Even the worst ones I read about."

"But . . . how can you let something bad happen if you know it's coming?"

"Because I know the outcome."

"What if you being here changes the outcome?"

Eylara heaved a sigh and pushed some of her hair back behind her ears. "I just have to have faith that the course of things won't change. I said I'd accept the consequences of my coming here. If I have to act in order to keep things heading toward your fulfillment of prophecy, I will. But like I said, not every detail makes it into a book. I could still be unwritten in the story and nothing that's going to happen will change."

"I don't know," Richard mused after another quiet moment. "You ending up here, overloaded with magic . . . that's a pretty major event. I'll be really surprised if Darken Rahl doesn't find out about you somehow and try to capture you and use you for his own gain."

Her expression became hard. "Well if he does, I won't live long enough for him to do much with me, will I?"

Richard regarded her somberly. Then he glanced up, and she felt someone come up behind her. "Darken Rahl is a powerful sorcerer in his own right," Zedd's voice informed her quietly as he sat down beside her. "He might very well figure out what to do to bleed the magic off you and make you survive. Worse, he might discover a way to use that extra magic against us. Either way, you'd end up his very unwilling servant . . . unless the Mord-Sith get their hands on you. Then you'd be broken and willing to do whatever they tell you."

"Are you kidding?" Eylara looked at the wizard with fiercely drawn eyebrows. "Like I told Richard, there were parts of the book I skipped because of how awful Darken Rahl was portrayed within the first few pages. I'll will myself dead before I help him at all, even if he does cure me or tries to break me with the Mord-Sith. Although . . ." She looked significantly at Richard. "If the Seeker could barely withstand them, I don't know how I'd do. I doubt I have the strength of Richard Cypher."

Richard clenched his jaw, trying to summon up a smile over a painful memory, to which Eylara whispered an apology. Zedd laid a hand on her arm. "No," he said. "You're not the Seeker. But who knows? Maybe you have a strength all your own that can overcome such a situation in it's own way." Eylara nodded thoughtfully at the possibility.

It was the wizard's turn to take the watch. Richard told Eylara and Zedd goodnight, stretched out with his head on his saddlebag and his feet to the fire, and promptly fell asleep.

Eylara looked back out at the woods with a noise of disgust. "I envy him," she muttered, snapping the twig in half between her fingers.

"I was wondering why you were up," said the wizard. "Here." He passed a hand in front of her face, and she felt a subtle wave of warmth follow in its wake.

"What did you do?"

"You'll find out when you go lay down, which I suggest you do in short order." She gave a smirk that wrinkled her nose a bit and moved to get up. "There's something I need to tell you first." Eylara stopped and looked at him. He pressed his lips together again before speaking further. "When we find enough quillion to bleed off your excess magic, you won't be able to keep all your abilities. But, you do have a choice in which ones you keep."

"What about the ones you said I have permanently?" she questioned.

"Quillion can take all the magic away, if that's what you want," Zedd told her. "So it stands to reason that you don't have to keep the ones I called permanent. Whatever you want to keep will take its place."

Eylara considered his words for a long moment. "How many abilities can I keep?"

"I'd say no more than six, just to be safe," Zedd replied. "Choose carefully, dear one."

She nodded and then gave a quiet chuckle. "You expect me to sleep after that bit of news, Wizard? I'll be up 'til morning trying to decide."

"Oh, I don't think you will," Zedd contested with a smile. "I'd bet my breakfast on it. Now go, lay down and get some sleep."

Eylara shook her head, but smiled and bid him goodnight as she got up and went to her saddlebag. Doubtful, she settled onto her back, and the moment her eyes met the glowing embers of the fire, sleep fell over her like a heavy blanket.


	4. Chapter 4: Mizrak

**4 - ****Mizrak**

A morning full of pain was not what Eylara had been expecting. It had started normally enough. In fact, she felt very well rested when she woke up and had even tested her abilities by going with Richard and extending her hearing to where a pheasant was hiding so they could have a good breakfast. Then, as she was sitting by the fire with Zedd and finishing up her food while the others tended to their horses, the wizard pointed out the fact that she had something tangled in her hair. Eylara brought it over her shoulder and found that he was right - a stubby twig had worked it's way into a hopeless tangle at the end of her hair at some point. No amount of pulling or brushing was going to help.

It was really nothing of consequence, except for what happened when she brought out her little silver dagger to cut the thing out. She set the blade against the snarl, pulled it through . . . and promptly let out a yell of pain, dropping the dagger and the hair-wrapped piece of stick as she clapped her hands to the back of her head. Her cry made Zedd jump, and Kahlan and Richard spun around to see what was going on. Eylara, rubbing her throbbing pate, turned around to see if something on the log behind her had caught her hair, or if some crazed creature or insect had smacked into the back of her head before finding a straight path to fly. She couldn't see anything and was extremely confused.

"What happened?" Kahlan asked, dropping to one knee next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know!" Eylara answered in frustration, scanning the woods. "I swear something just hit me in the back of the head . . . but I don't know what it was." Kahlan and Zedd had both spied the dagger and scrap of her hair on the ground, but she didn't notice and picked them up. "Whatever it was, it stung like nothing I've ever felt before. I hope it doesn't swell or something." When she looked up, Kahlan was regarding her with a very odd expression. "What?"

The Confessor flicked a brief glance at Zedd, whose face bore much the same cryptic affect as her own. Eylara noted the resemblance and looked back at Kahlan in consternation. "This happened right after you did that?" Kahlan asked, indicating the dagger.

"Yes . . . Why?"

Kahlan looked at the wizard again, and Eylara did the same. "Oh, it's probably nothing," he said, smiling again. "It could just be your magic acting up. It might do that sometimes, getting the odd nerve firing off at inconvenient moments and whatnot. Here, let's see if this helps." Zedd touched her forehead, and sure enough, the burning sting in her scalp lessened considerably.

She nodded. "That did help. Thank you, Zedd."

"Of course, my dear. Now, we'd better get the last of this stuff on the horse and put out the embers before we get moving."

Eylara nodded and moved off to fetch a bucket of dirt to smother the fire with. Richard came over to help her and asked if she was okay, to which she said yes, she was and thanked him for checking. Still, the way Kahlan and Zedd had reacted to her little incident struck her as odd, and she felt that they were hiding something from her. She could tell that they were surprised and even a bit worried by what had happened, but she could see no reason for it. She eventually shrugged it off and mostly forgot about it.

The hour before noon was when the truly painful thing happened. They had just gotten off the horses to water them when the most sickening pain shot straight through her temples like a fiery arrow. It blinded her, and her body stiffened against it. Then she crumpled to her knees with an agonized scream, pressing her palms against the sides of her head as if trying to hold it together. Zedd was kneeling before her in an instant, grabbing her by the wrists to keep her from hurting herself, which he feared she might. "Zedd, what's happening to her?" Richard asked over her tormented moaning.

"The magic," Zedd replied, his eyes fixed intently on her contorted face. "It's shifting to the Subtractive."

"You can't do anything?"

"No. We just have to wait for it to pass."

"How long will that take?" asked Kahlan.

"Could take minutes, could take an hour; I don't know for sure," Zedd told her. Suddenly, Eylara's eyes snapped wide open, desperately focusing on the wizard's face as another wave of pain tensed her into rigidity. What was happening to her eyes caused him to stare. The color of them was shifting between every shade of the spectrum, and the whites were glowing and sparking. "Hold on, girl, hold on!" he said fervently as her hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. "You've got the will to get through this. Focus through it!" Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead, and her breathing came in rough gasps through clenched teeth as tears of pain streamed unchecked down her pallid cheeks. Even so, he could tell that she was trying to do as he said. After a few more long minutes, the onslaught suddenly ceased, and the pain released its hold on her, causing her to collapse limply into Zedd's shoulder. He let go of her wrists and guided her down onto the ground, laying her flat on her back. She wasn't unconscious, but her eyes were shut. She was focusing on regaining control of her breathing, and he was impressed that she had the presence of mind to do so.

Kahlan put a hand to Eylara's forehead. "She's cold," she remarked concernedly.

"She'll be alright," said the wizard. "Just give her a few more minutes."

Presently, she opened her eyes, focusing on each of her companions in turn. Zedd was relieved to notice that they had stabilized to their normal shade of dark blue. Finally, she spoke. "That was awful. I never want to do that again." They helped her sit up, and she looked at Zedd as Richard handed Kahlan water to pass to her. "Is it going to be like that every time the magic decides to switch?" she asked, thanking Kahlan and Richard and taking a drink.

The wizard nodded. "You know what it's like now, and I saw you trying to focus through it. That's the way to handle it, in my opinion, since there isn't much else to be done. Maybe that will help you get through it quicker after the initial attack. On the other hand, it might just get worse the longer you go without being purged."

"Great." Eylara let out a long breath and shut her eyes again for a moment. "I'll fight through it. If it's going to kill me, I may as well look it in the face as I go." Zedd took hold of her temples again. "Now what are you doing?"

"You're centered in Subtractive Magic now," he said. "I just want to see what's most obvious in you on this side of things." After a few moments, he said, "Apathy . . . the counter to your pulsing, just as I suspected . . . weapon disintegration . . . repulsion . . . Those are all I can find in the tangle."

Eylara's body was throbbing with the aftershocks of the pain the switch had caused, and Zedd could sense it. He placed a hand over her eyes and uttered a brief incantation. A flash of heat warmed her eyelids for a moment and then traveled through the rest of her, stilling the lingering effects enough to cause her breathing to noticeably relax further. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Let's get to Mizrak."

"Are you sure you can go on right now?" asked Richard.

Eylara rose before any offers off help could be made. "Yeah, I'm sure. The sooner we can find more quillion, the sooner I can stop dealing with this, and the sooner you can get on with your quest. Let's go."

* * *

The next few hours were uneventful. They had come to a point in the woods where the trees were too thick to ride quickly, but Zedd assured them they'd be at Mizrak by mid-afternoon in spite of their pace. Richard had gotten off his horse, offering it to Eylara as he walked along a short distance ahead. Kahlan rode nearby on her right, Zedd on her left. "How are you feeling?" the Confessor asked her after a time.

Eylara gave a shrug and smirked a bit. "Well, I'm saddle-sore. I can't say I did much horse riding back in the other world. Other than that, I've got a tiny bit of a headache, but I'm fine."

Kahlan said that was good. "You know," she said, "for being from another world entirely, you don't seem out of place here at all. You're not intimidated by your surroundings, you're facing all of this with a determination people don't see very often . . . I'm surprised at you, Eylara."

"I just . . . feel like I'm meant to be here. But I've always been pretty good at covering up the fact that I'm scared or intimidated." She looked at Kahlan with a small smile. "To be honest, I'm a little on the terrified side right now. I think I will be until I get past a week."

Kahlan returned a sympathetic smile. "You'll get there. I'm sure of it. Besides, being able to hide your fear can be a valuable skill sometimes."

Eylara glanced up toward Richard. "The Seeker doesn't think I'm very good at it," she said, the corner of her mouth turning up a bit. "I got spooked by an owl last night. He thought it was great." Kahlan laughed, and Eylara joined in a bit in spite of herself. Shortly after that, her thoughts flicked to the incident with her hair that morning. "Kahlan, I have to ask, do you know something I don't about what happened to me this morning when we were getting ready to break camp? I mean, it wasn't a big deal, but you and Zedd acted like it was really out of the ordinary or something."

Kahlan almost involuntarily averted her eyes from the other woman, deliberated for a moment, and then looked back up at her quickly. "I don't think it was anything to worry about, in spite of how we acted," she said. "Zedd was probably right: it had something to do with your magic. It's . . . not something you have to trouble yourself with right now."

Eylara watched Kahlan's eyes as she spoke, hoping to see whether or not the Confessor was telling her all that was on her mind. Abruptly, she realized that her ability to read emotions in other people might not work when she was attuned to Subtractive Magic. Even so, she could tell that there was more to the issue. "I think there's still something you're not telling me," she said, and Kahlan's expression became guarded. Eylara gave a quiet sigh of capitulation. "But if you say I shouldn't worry about it right now, I won't." A pang of fear tugged at her heart for a split-second, but it was enough to find its way onto her countenance. "You'll tell me if it's bad, won't you, Kahlan?"

The Confessor's features softened, her eyes warming. "Of course I will. So will Zedd. You have my word. And his."

Eylara turned to see Zedd looking at her, and he dipped his head in affirmation of Kahlan's words. He had been listening the whole time.

Close to three hours after noon, they came to the edge of the woods. An expansive field stretched out in front of them as they stopped just before the trees ended, and they all dismounted to survey the tranquil scene. Lush green grass carpeted the ground, the evenness of which was interrupted by the presence of several perfectly symmetrical hills. Eylara didn't need to be told that they had finally arrived at Mizrak. "So, who's buried here?" she asked Zedd.

"Oh, several people of high status from ages past," the wizard replied. "Many of them were rulers of an ancient city called Dorivan, the ruins of which are about an hour's ride south of here. However, a few of the mounds contain the tombs of the more respected sorcerers that served one or two of those rulers. One of them, a brilliant man named Tengar, used quillion to ground a lot of his experiments and alchemy. It was said that he owned three quillion artifacts, one of which was destroyed when Dorivan fell. Another was placed in his burial chamber, although it's probably long gone by now. But it's said that there was a secret vault built off the side of his chamber, a fact known only by the other sorcerers of his order - some of whom ended up becoming wizards later on. Which is why I know about it. The third artifact must be there."

Eylara scrutinized the burial mounds carefully. "They're not very big," she commented. "It looks like we could just walk in and out. But it's not going to be that simple, is it?"

Zedd gave a lopsided smile. "Indeed not. The main burial chamber lies a good twenty feet underground, and it can only be entered by following a spiral hallway beneath the mound. After that, who knows how the secret room is connected to the rest of the tomb?"

"We'd better get started then," said Richard. "Which one is it?"

"We'll have to look at the engravings on the entry lintels to figure it out," Zedd answered. "His name should be there somewhere, but I don't know what language it'll be in. It could take some time."

"No." The three turned to look at Eylara, who was staring into the midst of the mounds as if nothing was obstructing her view. "It's the one in the very center. I . . . I can see it. I can see the magic of the quillion coming up out of the ground like a . . . a pillar of light." She blinked, and the trance that seemed to have gripped her fell away, causing her to waver on her feet. Richard put out a hand to steady her, and after a moment, she straightened, looking to Zedd. "How was that?" she asked, smiling weakly.

"Spellsight," the wizard murmured. "Very good, dear one! Quite amazing. But how do you feel after that?"

Eylara's forehead creased a bit. "My headache's a little worse. I'm okay, though."

"Just be careful," Kahlan cautioned her. "Even that made you a little shaky, and there's no telling what anything beyond that might do to you." Eylara agreed, and they started toward the central burial mound.

The granite-sealed entry was embedded in the west side of the hill, and the runic writing on the lintel above it was worn almost completely away. Even so, Zedd told them that Tengar's name was still visible along with the names of the Dorivanite rulers he had served. He was described as having been a key figure during the Dark Times, and his magic had protected much of the city from incursion. Zedd held out his hands toward the door. "_Sol-an Tengar'a alshar Mizrak'a, shar-ah keden, shar-ah morath!_" With a heavy grinding, the dense stone door slid slowly to the right. The stale air of ages seeped out around them. They followed the wizard into the dark tomb.

Once they were inside, the namesake property of the Dagger of Dawn made itself eagerly known. A flare of blue light warmed from the top of the sheath at Eylara's belt. She pulled it and held it before her, and the sight elicited a low exclamation from Richard. The glass-like crystal blade had become full of soft, blue-white light, enough to illuminate a good deal of the chamber. Eylara gazed at it, transfixed. "Well, I guess that's not surprising," she commented, although she was clearly awestricken by the beautiful manifestation of magic she was holding.

While the light from the Dagger was substantial, Richard still lit a torch. The beginning of the descending hallway was in the left wall of the chamber. Richard went first, followed by Kahlan, Eylara and Zedd. After they had gone around the second bend, the walls became noticeably mossier and damp. Carvings covered the blocks, and niches appeared every twelve paces or so, some obviously meant to give the illusion of doorways. It was only a still, quiet tomb, and while being inside of one was unnerving no matter whose it was, there was something about it that was making the hairs on the back of Eylara's neck stand on end. She felt as though they were being watched - very closely. "Something isn't right," she said, raising the Dagger to cast a bit more light ahead.

"How do you mean?" Richard asked, stopping and turning to look at her.

"It's just a feeling I have," she answered, aware that she was sounding more nervous than reasonable. "Like someone doesn't want us here."

"It isn't every day people decide to wander into an old tomb looking for something important, unless they're robbers," said Kahlan. "It's bound to feel unsettling. Don't worry; we'll be out of here soon." Eylara wanted to insist it was more than that but decided to hold her tongue. Perhaps she was making more out of her general unease with the place than she needed to. They pressed on.

After turning four more corners, they came to a dead end. Richard set his hand against the apparently solid wall they were facing, brushing his fingers over the rough surface. "This shouldn't be here," Zedd said, his brows drawing together in confusion.

"The way in must be one of the false doors further back along the passage," Kahlan suggested.

"Are you sure you saw the quillion here?" Richard asked Eylara.

"Yes." Her eyes drifted shut for a moment, a subtly glowing sheen of gold coloring them when they reopened. She turned her head slightly down and to the left, seeming to look through the stonework. "I still do. It's here, I promise." She blinked the spellsight away, and the group turned back around, stopping at each false doorway as they went to test it.

It was when they came around the first turn going back that they heard the low whistle of wind. Richard stopped them abruptly, and they listened. Shadows seemed to condense and come alive further up the hall. Eylara's nerves went on edge. "This is feeling way too much like the last tomb we were in," said the Seeker. Eylara knew what he was talking about. She had read about the extremely close encounter he and Kahlan had had with the spirits of an ancient Seeker and Confessor in a similar place.

Suddenly, the unearthly gale shrieked around the corner up ahead, carrying a cloud of undulating white light that was anything but benign. It sped directly for Richard.

"Look out!" Without hesitating, Eylara dashed the few steps forward and knocked the Seeker out of the thing's path. As Richard hit the wall, the cloud engulfed her. She cried out as it began to absorb into her.

"Zedd, what is it?" Kahlan shouted over the roar of the wind that was still filling the corridor.

"A spirit, of course!" replied the wizard. "Just like the ones you and Richard dealt with in the ancient Seeker's tomb. But why it's here, I don't know!"

"Why isn't it taking her over?" asked Richard. The three watched what was happening before them. Eylara was frozen in place, her fists clenched, her arms bent and stiffened at her sides and her shoulders squared against the entity that shrouded her face and chest. Tendrils of energy probed at her, searching, but each time they appeared to meet resistance and shrink back.

"She's fighting with it," Zedd breathed, his eyes widening.

"How?" questioned the Confessor.

"She's using the Subtractive Magic," said Zedd. "She's taking the connections the spirit is trying to use to get into her and turning them back on themselves, choking them off."

"Did she catch it too late?" Richard wanted to know.

"Maybe. We'll be able to tell in a few . . ."

Abruptly, Eylara's frozen state melted, and she lurched forward with a strangled shout. Her hand shot out into the cloud, and had there been a person there to grab, she would have had him by the neck. She was breathing heavily, and her voice came with effort. "Who are you?" she asked the thing before her. "Why did you try to attack the Seeker?"

The other three could hear nothing, but Eylara heard the words quite clearly. _A world-walker?_ A man's deep voice echoed through her mind. _This is unexpected. There hasn't been one of you in this world for millennia._

"Never mind that. Answer me!"

_You would do well do show some respect, girl. You address the High Sorcerer Tengar of Dorivan. That one has violated my peace!_

"Forgive me, Sorcerer, but it's a little difficult to show respect to someone who attacks you for no apparent reason. And apart from that, how can you have peace here? Why haven't you passed to the Underworld?"

Eylara could feel the spirit glaring. _It seems that every time a Seeker is named, my spirit is drawn up from the Underworld to return to Mizrak as its protector. After a thousand years, I was convinced I would be left in peace for eternity. It appears I was mistaken!_ Tengar's spirit raged against the restraining magic Eylara held him with, trying to break toward Richard, but she remained stronger. She gritted her teeth and tried to steady her breathing as the power burned from her like flames from a torch.

"How is that possible? Were you cursed?"

_Not cursed. Bound, by the seventh King of Dorivan. It seemed an honor at the time. I should have guessed how much of a toll it would take on my spirit, being pulled back and forth between realms so often. Surely you can appreciate that._

Eylara was still for a moment, her own spirit sympathizing with the disembodied sorcerer for a split second. The instant she felt Tengar attempt to move against her again, she renewed her hold. "If we release you, will you leave us be - especially the Seeker - and let us get to the quillion artifact?"

Tengar laughed ruefully. _The quillion? Is that all you're after?_ Eylara felt spectral eyes search through her. _Ah, but I can see why. The world-walker shall walk no more without it._

"This world is my home now," she said, lowering her voice a fraction. "I don't want to world-walk for the rest of my life. I just want to _have_ a rest of my life. I want to help the Seeker . . . and I want to help you. A soul shouldn't have to linger in a world it's no longer meant for."

The wind died to half its original intensity as the spirit regarded her calculatingly. _I do not understand you, world-walker. You do not know the people you travel with, you do not know this world, and you know nothing of who I am or what I am capable of. Yet, you walk here with such purpose in your heart, though you fear what coming here has done to you. You would still risk your life for the Seeker, though you die, and even so would venture to help a trapped soul. Why? Are you so desperate for this quillion in order to save yourself?_

Eylara swallowed. "It would be easy to think that I'm only offering to do this for my own ends. I guess that's true, in a way. But even if I weren't dying, I would offer to free you. Whatever is right should be upheld. If you have the means to help someone out of a bad situation and into a good one, you should without question. I've always believed that."

After a few minutes, Eylara felt the anger and animosity in Tengar's spirit relax into a cautious yield. Tentatively, she loosened her grip. The cloud lifted from her and spread outward from her hand, congealing into the blurry outline of an imposing man with long hair drawn back into a tail and a somber face. _In life, I was a hard man_, he said, _but not without compassion. I think you may yet be of some use in this world. The King used an artifact called the Watcher's Eye to bind me to Mizrak. It still rests in a tower in the ruins of Dorivan. The tower is magically sealed in such a way that it looks solid, with nowhere to enter. You have the power to see the entry; you will find it. Destroy the Eye, and I will be free. Return here once you have done this, and I shall let you and your companions pass unharmed to where the quillion is. Go now. Sunset is coming, for this day and for you._ With that, Tengar dissolved into nothingness, and the wind ceased.

Eylara collapsed onto her hands and knees, trembling as the magic she had used to fight the spirit receded back into her as a wave might roll back into the sea. Kahlan helped her sit back against the wall as Zedd clasped her hands in his. She heard him mumbling old words again, and she suddenly felt a cool ripple of energy pass over her. Her breathing became normal, her muscles released, her waning strength stabilized. When Richard told her that she had been talking to the air, she was surprised. She told them what Tengar had said, and what they needed to do in order to get to the quillion.

"If we ride fast, we can make it to Dorivan before dark," said Richard.

"There's a problem. Would you care to guess what?" asked Kahlan.

Richard rolled his eyes. "More D'Harans?"

The Mother Confessor nodded. "Rahl's been using Dorivan as a supply outpost for almost a year now. There's a small barracks there that houses about a dozen soldiers most of the time. There's no telling how busy it might be, even though this time of year is usually pretty slow. Not to mention there are three possible towers to choose from. We'll be guessing which one holds the Eye, and the D'Harans won't give us time to poke around all three trying to figure it out."

"We won't have to," said Eylara. "Tengar told me I have the ability to see the entry to the tower that holds it. We just have to get close enough for me to sneak in and grab it."

"I think we need to have a look at what we're dealing with before we get the idea that it might be that simple," Richard warned. "Let's ride down to Dorivan and see what's going on."


	5. Chapter 5: The Outpost

**5 - ****The Outpost**

One intact tower loomed out from the darkening forest as they approached the ruined city. Eylara wondered just how long it had been since its destruction. They got off the horses in a small clearing marked by a low, moss covered wall. As they ran onward, she could see that such walls were scattered throughout the woods, and some formed two or more sides of what once must have been houses. Yet all were crumbling and covered with vegetation, the once clean angles of masonry eroded and smoothed by centuries of wind and weather.

All at once, the world around her vanished in a flash of white, accompanied by a familiar stab of fire through her temples. Her momentum carried her forward onto her stomach, and she cracked her chin against the ground, but it barely registered through the agony of another polarity shift. Somehow, her awareness of the fact that they were trying to sneak up on the enemy stayed with her, and she managed to stifle most of the initial scream and grit her teeth against anything further that might readily attract attention. Writhing uncontrollably with the pain, she rolled onto her back, clutching at the ground, and Zedd's sharply whispered exhortations to focus through it found their way through the haze.

Forcing a deep breath, Eylara fisted her hands in the grass, squeezed her eyes shut, and saw the magic as a wildfire raging through her mind. Then she envisioned herself standing above it, stretching her hands out to the heavens, gathering clouds, calling a downpour. And it came. It was difficult to do at first, but she called to it, more and more insistently, until finally the rain drove down upon the fire in sheets. The flames shrank back, back into the ground, until all that remained was a field of smoking red embers.

The pain released her. The image in her mind faded to nothing, and she found herself looking up at the stars. Zedd was looking down at her. "Eylara," he whispered, "are you with us?" Carefully, she nodded. That simple act was enough to erase her desire to move. She felt as if her muscles were merely a concept she had no control over. She was back in the river again, barely holding on.

"Zedd, I . . . I can't move . . ."

The wizard knelt at her side, stretched his hands out above her, and there he remained for a long moment, concentrating on something none of them could name, gathering unseen energy. "_A'nem nen, a'nem rai, seth-eru!_" He repeated the words three times, each with increasing urgency.

Eylara thought the ground might swallow her. Inexplicably, the grass beneath her felt as though it was reaching for her, pulling her down and becoming part of her, and from it came a static-like power that wrapped itself around her. The earth was breathing into her, restoring her. Her fingers twitched, muscles finding their movement once more.

Zedd dropped his hands, sitting back on his heels with a heavy sigh. Uncertainly, afraid she might weaken again at any moment, Eylara sat up, aided by Richard and Kahlan, and looked at the wizard. His face looked drawn, but he smiled at her. "The earth is willing to help you, if you ask it," he said. "There isn't often call for me to use that spell. It takes quite a bit of work, I can tell you."

Tears filled her eyes, partly in relief and partly in sorrow. "Thank you," she managed to whisper, and then she reached out and took the wizard's hand. "Zedd . . . you shouldn't have to keep doing such things just to keep me alive; it isn't fair . . ."

He chuckled and covered her hand with his. "I'm a wizard, my dear. We used to be called upon to do far more difficult things on a regular basis. Don't worry about me. Besides, it's my intent to teach you how to do that for yourself. You'll need to know it anyway as the week goes on." She blinked to clear her vision, trying to smile, and stood, finding herself able to help Zedd to his feet. "Now," he said, "back to Additive, are we? Should be a little easier for you to handle this time around. But were you aware that you were invoking the Old Tongue while you were focusing this time?" Eylara's eyes went wide, and she shook her head. "Did you read about it?"

"A little bit," she answered, "but only a few words, and I didn't know what they meant. It was all nonsense to me."

"Hmm." Zedd scratched his head. "You were summoning rain - not any easy task. I was afraid you might actually call a storm down on us, but you whispered most of it. A spell like that only works in a strong voice." Eylara told him about what she had imagined as she worked through the pain. "Fascinating," said the wizard. "It'll be interesting to see if you do it again. Did you understand what you were saying, at least?"

Eylara made a face. "No . . . and yes."

Zedd almost said something further, but Richard whispered for them to get down. They went to their hands and knees behind one of the low walls and then cautiously peered over the top. A patrol of four D'Haran soldiers passed by about twenty paces in front of them and turned, following a narrow path through the trees toward the tower. Eylara's mind immediately came away from the shift and turned to how they were going to get in and out of the ruins. "We need to get closer," Richard said. "Let's move into the trees a little further south and see what we can figure out."

The ruins were expansive. Watch fires burned at the north and south ends, and guards slowly stalked among the walls. Three of them were inspecting a wagonload of barrels that had just arrived. The patrol of four that had passed them in the woods was skirting the perimeter of the main ruins. Two stood near the north fire, two stood near the south, and six more were milling about among various lean-tos and huts that had been erected for storage. Two pavilions augmented the soldier's barracks. There were at least twice as many D'Harans as Kahlan had initially figured. "Something important must've come in recently," Richard speculated, watching as a second patrol of four appeared out of the shadows on the other side of the ruins.

"And someone," said Kahlan. "One of those pavilions is for dignitaries, not common guards." She eyed the wagonload of barrels, a flash of dread slipping through her mind at the idea that occurred to her. She looked at Richard. "Dragon's breath?"

"Why would they need it here?" the Seeker asked.

"Maybe we can discover that while we're here," Zedd suggested. "But in the meantime, let's figure out where we have to go." He looked at Eylara. "Do you know what to do, dear one?"

"Spellsight?" The wizard nodded, and she looked out at the ruins, closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply. The world formed itself in outlines of dim light when she opened them. Moving figures traced in pale green luminescence marked the passage of the soldiers. She looked up at the intact tower. Seeing nothing, she cast her gaze left, where a third of the northeastern tower remained. There was nothing there either. With a sigh, she turned her attention to the northwest tower, which was furthest away and three-quarters intact. Sure enough, a misty white glow became visible somewhere in the midst of the ruin about halfway up. At the foot of the tower, the rough outline of a passage entry glowed lurid green from the side facing away - a magical seal. "Of course it would be the one furthest from us," she told the others.

Then, before she could come out of spellsight, something else caught Eylara's eye. Close to the northwest tower, from within the dignitary's pavilion, the figure of a man appeared. What made him different was that his outline was filled in with golden light that seemed to evaporate from him around the edges. "What is it?" Zedd whispered.

"I don't know," she replied. "I see someone who looks different from all the others in spellsight, but I don't know . . ." Her eyes turned to the wizard, and she stopped midsentence. Zedd looked exactly the way the other man did with her magically enhanced vision. "Or maybe I do." She looked toward the pavilion again. "Zedd, I think there's another wizard here."

Zedd's brows drew together, and his eyes went wide. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "The man in the pavilion looks just like you this way."

"I thought Giller was the only wizard left in service to Rahl," said Richard.

"No, just the most powerful," Kahlan told him. "There were plenty of lesser wizards who were willing to come under Rahl. He compensated them well."

Eylara blinked out of the spellsight trance, while Zedd ventured a brief glance of his own. He saw the same illuminated figure she did. "I wonder who it could be," he mused. "There must be a connection between his presence and whatever's been delivered here."

Richard spotted the approach of the patrol, and they remained low and still until it passed again. "The entrance is on the north side of the tower," Eylara whispered. "Maybe we can just work our way around the perimeter in the trees until we reach it. I'm a pretty good sneak; I'll just stick to the tower's shadow, unseal the passage, get the Eye and come back."

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy, my dear," said the wizard. "That passage needs an incantation to open it, and since you don't seem to be able to use the Old Tongue while you're outside the throes of a switch, I'll have to be the one to open it."

"Then you two go," Richard told them. "Kahlan and I will keep an eye out for the guards."

"But what if something goes wrong right away?" Eylara asked worriedly. "There're at least two dozen of them, plus that wizard, and only four of us - well, two if you don't count me and Zedd splitting off to the entry . . ."

"I'll rejoin them after I unseal it," Zedd assured her. "You'll be able to go on by yourself after that while we watch. We can keep them busy if we need to."

"How?" Richard rested a hand on the hilt of the Sword of Truth, while Kahlan drew a long dagger of bright silver from one of her boots. Eylara eyed their weapons doubtfully. Of course, she had read about what the Sword could do in the hands of the Seeker, and that Kahlan was a formidable fighter apart from her Confessor's power. Zedd had his Wizard's Fire and other magic at his disposal, but even so . . . She shook herself. She had to remember that more was possible in this world than in the one she had been part of before, and she needed to have faith that no matter what, they would move on from there so that Richard could finish his quest. Her expression gave way to a determined smile.

Richard led them far enough into the woods that the watch fires became barely visible and then turned them north. Patrols passed twice, obliging them to stop until the soldiers were well out of earshot. They passed the next tower and then started west. A road had been trampled out from the north, leading into the outpost, and Richard led them deeper into the trees so that they could cross the road further back without being seen. Then, as they came near the northwestern tower, a high-pitched ringing swelled in Eylara's ears. She caught her breath, trying not to do anything beyond that because of the discomfort it caused her. Thankfully, it began to subside, but she suddenly found that the littlest noise sounded as though it was right next to her ear. She could hear the soldiers talking in the ruins.

Richard asked her what happened. His voice reached her like a roaring wind, making her flinch. "My hearing," she whispered back. "Everything is so loud . . ."

"I can tell you how to fix that . . ." Zedd started to say.

Eylara held up a hand. "No, wait. I can hear the wizard talking." The others were completely silent, allowing her to listen as closely as she could. For good measure, she spellsighted the pavilion again.

"General Ensor," said the wizard, a low tenor voice, "Lord Rahl wishes to have the Watcher's Eye in his possession as soon as possible. I advise you to use your new shipment tonight. It would be unwise to wait."

"I agree with you, Wizard Tolian," replied a deeper, gruffer voice belonging to a burly soldier, "but setting up the demolition is going to take some time. We still haven't figured out which tower the artifact is in, and once we do, I'll have to move an entire section of my outpost to safety . . ."

"The Eye is in northwest tower, General." Ensor regarded the wizard silently. Tolian was smiling smugly. "Do you see now why I was sent? Magic sees magic. The sooner you get that tower down, the sooner we can move on to Mizrak, and Lord Rahl can have his prize."

The General, clearly ruffled even when seen through spellsight, turned to the entry of the pavilion. "Captain!" he barked, loud enough that even the other three could hear. Another man swept quickly into the tent.

"Yes, General?"

"Get the men and the supplies clear of the northwestern rooms. Have the demolition team set the charges on the tower there. Work quickly."

"Right away, sir!" The Captain ducked out and hurried out into the ruins.

"A wise decision, General," said Tolian. The hairs on the back of Eylara's neck prickled as the wizard appeared to cast a lingering glance over his shoulder - straight at her. "I might suggest adding another patrol around that tower as well," she heard him say. "Let's not risk any unexpected visitors." General Ensor sounded somewhat confused in his consent before he left the wizard's presence.

Eylara inhaled sharply as she left spellsight. "I think he knows I'm here," she whispered. "If not me, then Zedd."

"How?" Kahlan asked.

"'Magic sees magic,' he said." She looked around at them. "The wizard's name is Tolian. He just got the General to order his men to clear out around the tower. They're going to use dragon's breath to blow it up so the wizard can get the Watcher's Eye for Rahl. Then he said something about going down to Mizrak with it."

"What can Rahl do with the Eye?" asked Richard.

"Maybe he wants to try to bind the souls of others to himself. That's what it's made to do," said Kahlan.

"But why go to Mizrak?"

"There are other objects of power in those mounds," Eylara answered. "I saw them when I looked for the quillion. Tolian can use spellsight, too. They probably want to go down and blow the hills open so they can get those things and give them to Rahl, whatever they are."

"We'd better hurry," said Zedd. "It won't take them very long to get the dragon's breath in place, and they're bound to increase their patrols now that the wizard sensed you, and probably me as well. I'm sorry, my dear, but I'll have to teach you about your hearing later." He pressed his fingers against Eylara's ears, and her sense of sound abruptly returned to normal, disorienting her momentarily. "Let's go."

They could see the soldiers near the watch fire tightening their armor and readying their crossbows. The new patrol was forming up by the pavilions, and the demolition teams began unloading the barrels of dragon's breath at the other end of the ruins. They reached the edge of the trees in the shadow of the tower. Zedd and Eylara edged out from the brush, both checking the soldiers with spellsight. Eylara wondered how long wizards were able to use the ability, fearing that Tolian would be able to watch them all the while if he saw them near the tower, but decided not to voice her concern. "It's now or never!" said Zedd. "Go!"


	6. Chapter 6: Accidental Power

**6 - ****Accidental Power**

Eylara and the wizard managed to make it to the tower and press themselves against the wall in the depths of the shadows just before the patrol came around to the north side. Richard and Kahlan found themselves holding their breaths as the soldiers passed with more caution and alertness than usual. The group reached the road into the ruins and turned back inside, passing between the watchmen. Once the danger had lessened, Zedd and Eylara stood, staying against the wall, and ventured forward a few paces before stopping again.

Eylara kept an attentive eye out while the wizard took a few guarded steps away and began to chant. At his last word, he swept his hands through the air before the masonry. There was a muted flash of green light, and several stones simply vanished, revealing a dark, irregular doorway. Eylara ventured a peek across the threshold before Zedd returned to her side. "Hopefully nobody noticed that little display," he whispered. "Now, things should be easier from here. No guards to worry about inside. Just meet us back in the woods where we came out, and then we'll figure out what to do about that wizard and the dragon's breath going to Mizrak." Eylara nodded, ducked into the shadowed doorway, and disappeared.

Zedd waited for the patrol to pass a second time before stalking back to the trees to rejoin Richard and Kahlan. Richard motioned to an approaching group of soldiers carrying barrels and picks. "Hopefully the Eye isn't locked in some doubled chest or something," he said. "It might take them some time to get those charges set, but it won't take much to bring the tower down."

"She'll be fine," said Zedd. "Whatever's holding it won't be a match for her magic. Unless whatever it is was also sealed with spoken magic. Then I might have to go back in there."

They could hear the sound of picks striking stone after the soldiers disappeared on the other side of the tower. The group that had just passed was barely crossing the other side of the wall. They had only been waiting for a moment when Kahlan raised an alarm. "Oh no. It looks like they just doubled up on the patrol."

Zedd watched them anxiously, noticing that they were being much more careful to inspect their surroundings as they progressed. One man obviously noticed the newly opened entry in the tower wall but seemed uncertain that he was seeing it correctly and starting pointing it out to his companions. "Damn!" Zedd spat. "That wizard must have noticed something going on."

"We can't let them go in there," Richard insisted. "There's only one way out; she'll be trapped!"

"I think a small distraction is in order." Zedd motioned toward the watch fire and waggled his fingers. The flames roared up out of control, catching on the tabard of the closest guard. It started a commotion that succeeded in getting the attention of the patrol. Two of them split off to see what was going on. The other two remained, waiting until their commander returned. They were far enough away from the entry that Zedd thought Eylara could sneak out without being noticed. Hopefully.

Tolian appeared. They were close enough that they could hear him speaking, demanding to know what was going on and why things weren't being moved faster from inside the ruins near the tower. Amid the excuses, he noticed the raging watch fire. Abruptly, he thrust out his hand toward it, dousing the flames to half of what they were. "Get your men inside that tower _now_!" he growled. The two soldiers that had split off from the patrol dashed back to their companions, and the commander gestured them to the entry.

"Not good!" said Richard, standing and drawing the Sword. Kahlan also rose, pulled her second dagger and hurled it straight into the back of the soldier at the rear of the group. It distracted the others long enough to stop them, turn them around and give them a look at the three people emerging from the woods. However, the original patrol rounded the bend at that very moment. They raised a cry in an instant, and the fight began.

The three remaining men from the other group turned and rushed into the tower.

Eylara brought out the Dagger of Dawn once she was inside, holding it up against the stifling darkness that filled the windowless tower. A narrow set of stairs spiraled upward against the curving wall, ending high above her at a lofted second level. Hopeful, she slowly started upward, having to take care as the edges of some of the ancient steps crumbled beneath her feet.

At the top, she came upon a stone pedestal holding a tarnished metal box. There was no lock on it. She was amazed at how easily getting the artifact was going so far, but reminded herself about the magic that had hidden it way in for so long. No one would have known the words to open the place, unless they happened to be a wizard. It had been no easy matter up to that point. She set her pack on the ground and stood before the box, pushing the lid back to reveal the Watcher's Eye.

It was a simple bronze orb with one large emerald set into the top. Time seemed not to have touched it. There was no sign of wear on its surface, and the emerald sparkled with pure, green clarity in the light given off by the Dagger.

A shout from below startled her out of her enchantment. It confused her at first, but after the initial echo had died away, a loud scuffling followed. Panicking, she shoved the Eye into her pack and slung it over her shoulders. Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Her mind raced with what she might do to escape, and she tried hiding the Dagger to plunge the tower back into darkness so that no one would be able to see. It was to no avail; torchlight accompanied the approach up the stairs. There was nothing for her to hide behind, under or in. She had no choice but to stand and fight. Her heart hammering, she drew the Dagger once more.

The first D'Haran soldier appeared at the top of the stairs, with a second close on his heels. A third followed in short order. The sight of the Dagger, whose light had somehow flared to a bright blue-white of ten times the intensity it had previously displayed, caused the guards to falter, and Eylara gave a lunge and a feint. "Get back!" she yelled. Her gaze flicked nervously to the drawn swords that were pointed at her. She had been training to fight for several years, but she never imagined she might actually have to use it practically! However, she knew it was not the time to second-guess herself. She rooted herself into a firm stance and confidently brandished the crystal blade.

"Give us the Eye, girl," commanded the closest guard. "We thank you for finding it for us, but Lord Rahl requires it for very important matters that shouldn't be delayed."

She knew that trading words with them was going to be useless. They would kill her if she didn't give them the Eye, and they would kill her if they decided she was with the Seeker (who had no doubt made his presence known by then), so she was dead either way. At a glance, she assessed her position compared to the guards. Two of them still had their feet on the stairs. The one closest to her probably wasn't thinking about the fact that his comrades couldn't pass him. With a battle cry, she rushed the front guard, pulsing her speed to slip past his sword and ram straight into his breastplate. The momentum brought him off his feet into the man behind him, who in turn tumbled into the third soldier. All three of them toppled and rolled down the stairs with a great clatter of armor. Eylara ran down after them, jumping over the men where they came to rest at the bottom and racing out into the melee beyond.

The entire complement of guards was in the fray against Richard, Kahlan and Zedd when Eylara joined them in the courtyard of the ruins. Zedd was occupied with the rival wizard, while the other two were dealing with a little over a dozen soldiers, not counting the Captain and General Ensor. Dagger blazing, Eylara rushed in to deal with one of the men who was double-teaming Kahlan. A new focus, the focus of real combat, had consumed her. It was fear and adrenaline and determination, all concentrated and refined. She lashed out with the Dagger, pulsing to get in close to her opponents, dealing with them in equal skill to her companions.

She didn't hear the soldier coming up behind her. He had been relieved of his blade by one of the others, but that didn't change the fact that he had been trained to use his hands in combat, just like every other D'Haran soldier. His metal-plated arms came around her with crushing force, knocking the Dagger from her grasp and lifting her off her feet.

She gave a shriek of surprise and fear and then began struggling. Anger flared through her, but her thoughts returned to some of the first training she had received. The man wasn't wearing a helmet, only a chainmail coif - a weakness she could exploit. She snapped her head back into his face. He cried out, and while he didn't release her, he bent enough to set her feet back on the ground. Again, she threw her head back, using her newfound purchase to strengthen the impact. His arms gave, and she spun around, grabbing his throat. A pulse of strength to her fingers would crush his windpipe and end him, giving her time to reclaim the Dagger.

What happened instead was completely unexpected.

As soon her hand came to his neck, Eylara felt an indescribable surge of power rise within her. It surprised her, and she tried to hold it in briefly so that she might discern what it was. Instinctively, she knew it would help her situation somehow. It overrode the original intent to pulse her strength, and since she wasn't sure exactly how to contain it, she released it.

The air between and around her and her attacker shuddered, split apart and then crashed back into place, but there was no sound to go with it. The man's eyes snapped open as wide as they possibly could and locked to hers. She felt something slip away from him, from his very being. His vision shrouded with a sudden darkness, but her gaze held his in spite of it, holding him captive, sight to sight and soul. Staring into his eyes, she suddenly knew he was not himself any longer. It was she who held sway over him, not his own mind . . . but how it had happened, she could not understand.

The dark mist over his eyes dissipated, and she felt the sight-hold she had taken over him break. The power stopped flowing. Then her body simply gave, emptied of all strength. Her mind followed, instantly sleeping. She sank to the ground and didn't move.

The soldier turned, picked up a dropped sword and brought it down on the neck of his nearest comrade.

There were only half a dozen guards remaining when Richard and Kahlan saw Eylara being picked up by one of them. However, they were unable to help her, being occupied with their own assailants. Zedd had managed to overpower Tolian and decided that it would be a good idea to dispose of the dragon's breath with a blast of Wizard's Fire. The resulting explosion distracted a few of the soldiers to their advantage. Kahlan dispatched the one in front of her, purposing to help the other woman. Instead, she froze in shock as the falling man cleared her field of vision to reveal the outcome of Eylara's struggle. Barely believing her own eyes, she watched as Eylara grasped the soldier's neck, their stares fused, and an all-too-familiar power consumed his will. She saw her fall, spent, as the man rounded on and attacked his own compatriots.

It was General Ensor who ran the Confessed man through, and Zedd's fire that ended the General when he was about to charge Richard. The last remaining soldier sprang at Kahlan. It was of no consequence; he was badly injured, and the Mother Confessor finished him easily. Without a sound, she sheathed her daggers and went to where Eylara was laying. Carefully, she pulled the girl over onto her back, feeling her neck for the strength of her pulse and then her forehead for something else. Kahlan felt what she was searching for and withdrew her hand. Almost involuntarily, she found herself shaking her head. Her emotions were a strange combination of hope and fear.

"What's happened to her now?" asked Zedd as he came over, brushing dragon's breath soot from his robes. He knelt and was about to touch her forehead as he normally did to discern her condition, but Kahlan grabbed his arm.

"Don't touch her, Zedd," she told him firmly, earning a stare of consternation from the wizard. "She'll be okay, but . . . you can't touch her. Not right now."

Richard knelt next to Kahlan, looking the other woman over. He'd seen what had happened out of the corner of his eye as he fought, but needed confirmation of what he had guessed. "Did she do what I think she did?" he asked quietly. Kahlan pressed her lips together and nodded.

"Did what?" Zedd demanded, setting his fists on his hips. Kahlan looked up at him significantly and then flicked her eyes toward the fallen soldier Eylara had grabbed. Zedd followed her gaze and looked at the dead man for a moment. His hands fell to his sides and his eyes widened as realization set in. "No . . ."

The Mother Confessor folded her arms. "I watched her do it. Zedd, the Confessor's power flows through one of the strongest channels of the Han; didn't you find it when you searched her at first? It should've been nearly impossible to miss . . ."

"It speaks to how much of a tangle those channels are inside of her, Kahlan, even the permanent ones," Zedd countered. "I wouldn't have hesitated to tell you if I'd sensed it." They stood silently, watching Eylara for a time before the wizard spoke further. "I'll probably have to perform the restoration magic on her again; I don't need to touch her for that. But I think you and she need to have a talk in the morning."

Kahlan gave a quiet sigh and nodded.

"We should probably ride back to Mizrak and camp there tonight," said Richard, picking up the Dagger of Dawn and handing it to Kahlan. "Did she get the Eye?"

"Yes," Zedd replied after stealing a glance at Eylara's pack with spellsight. "We should be able to get the quillion without a problem now. Then we'll need to decide where to search once we're done there."

Richard went back into the woods to bring their horses to the ruins for Eylara's sake. They fashioned another stretcher, and after Kahlan had gotten her onto it, they made their way back to the burial mounds. Too weary to start a fire once they had arrived, they put down saddlebags at the base of one of the hills and slept deeply until daybreak.


	7. Chapter 7: Flood Control

**7 - ****Flood Control**

Eylara thought she might have been dreaming. She was back at Mizrak, lying on her side upon the incline of one of the hills, looking out over the flawless spring grass. The clear light of morning warmed through the trees, spreading slowly over the burial mounds as birdsong echoed through the dawn. It was serenity itself. But it was easily broken.

When she moved to turn over, she could tell that her body - no, her very being - had weakened considerably. Her physical strength had returned, but she could feel that it had been severely depleted the night before. It hesitated to exist. Only Zedd's magic could have helped it replenish itself.

The memory of what had happened at Dorivan seemed oddly fragmented in her mind. She remembered going into the tower, finding the Watcher's Eye, the D'Harans coming up the stairs . . .

_The Eye._

She sat up more quickly than she should have, found that her pack had become her pillow at some point, and opened it. The bronze orb was gone. Hoping that her eyes were playing tricks on her, she frantically rummaged through the bag. Journal, quill, ink, apple, dagger . . . no Watcher's Eye. Surely she couldn't have dreamed it all . . .

"It's alright." Eylara looked up to see Kahlan coming down from the crest of the hill. "Zedd and Richard took it a little while ago. They'll be back with the quillion soon."

Relieved that she hadn't imagined the entire ordeal, she took a deep breath to make her heart slow back down. "I wanted to go with them," she said, stretching and coming to her feet. "Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"Zedd said you needed to sleep," Kahlan told her. "You were almost completely drained from last night. We thought you might not be able to come back around." The memory of what had happened to sap her so badly was being elusive, though she could sense it hovering right at the front of her mind. "Do you remember?"

Eylara's face drew into a look of concentration. She recounted things aloud, hoping that it would help. "I got the Eye, put it in my pack . . . The guards came up the stairs, and I pulsed to knock them back down . . . I ran outside, and the three of you were fighting with the soldiers and the wizard, so I jumped in with the Dagger . . . Someone grabbed me, and I dropped it, so I rammed my head into his face, twice . . . Then I turned around so I could . . ." The rest of the memory abruptly snapped into place with brutal clarity. "But I didn't do what I thought I was going to do . . ." Her throat suddenly dry, Eylara locked eyes with Kahlan, a strange tingling coming into her fingers. "I . . . I Confessed him, didn't I?" The Mother Confessor's expression alone confirmed it, even before she nodded.

Eylara didn't know how to feel. She dropped back down to sitting in the grass, hugging her knees. She had read about the power of the Confessors, what it entailed. She was amazed that it had even manifested itself in her, since as far as she knew, it was magic that had been created by wizards and hadn't existed naturally before then. It was an inherited ability now, but she'd had no possibility of gaining it that way . . . _But the magics used to forge the power have always existed_, she told herself. _It formed within me on its own_. She hadn't truly comprehended just how strong the magic in her was when Zedd told her about it. Now, she began to realize what it was doing.

She actually felt privileged to be able to wield that power . . . but knew that she really didn't know what she was doing with it. At the same time, she felt a shiver of regret, almost revulsion at the thought of what she had done to the soldier. If she understood correctly, the Confessor's power essentially robbed a person of his or her free will. That person would do absolutely anything the Confessor told them to do and put their own life on the line to protect the one who had Confessed them without hesitation. She was almost grateful the man had died. She wouldn't have known what to do otherwise. Even as things stood, she couldn't shake the awful feeling that went along with her realization. She may as well have stolen someone's soul.

Kahlan was patiently sitting beside her, letting her sort through her thoughts and feelings. Eylara swallowed and looked over at her. "The power of Confession is rooted in Additive Magic, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't Zedd see it in me right away? That's where I was at first."

"He said it was because of how convoluted the channels of magic are inside you. He couldn't see everything, even all the abilities that are more innate." Kahlan asked her what she knew about the ability, and Eylara told her everything she had read. She realized as she was speaking just how little she did know. It made her feel a bit helpless. "It's a good start," said the Confessor, "but there's a lot more you'll need to learn now that it's become a dominant ability in your Additive state."

"What's the opposing side of the power of Confession, Kahlan?" she asked suddenly. Somehow, she was nervous to learn the answer. She didn't know when she would switch again, so the knowledge was important to have before the fact.

Kahlan looked pensive for a moment. "Do you remember Zedd telling you that most people with the Gift are rooted in Additive Magic?" Eylara nodded. "Confessor's powers are double-edged; they have an Additive _and_ a Subtractive side." The other woman briefly wondered how taking someone's free will could possibly be rooted in the Additive, but she decided not to ask. "We've always been told that the Subtractive side of the power can only be used by the most powerful Confessors. If your magic is as strong as we're all finding it to be, then it only makes sense that it could happen to you, too." It seemed to be a difficult subject for her to talk about, as if it was a very close thing. "The other side of the power is called the Con Dar; the Blood Rage."

"What does it do?"

"It removes all the limits of a Confessor's power. She doesn't have to touch someone to Confess them, and she doesn't need any recovery time to use the ability again. Her power becomes so strong that she can even Confess more than one person at once in a given area. It's an ability rooted in vengeance and hatred, and it gives you a one-track mind. The only thing you think about is destroying whoever hurt or killed someone you loved." Kahlan's gaze had turned to the grass, focusing on one spot past her feet. "It's an extreme reaction, and it isn't easy to break from the rage once you're in it. There are stories of Confessors dying after experiencing the Con Dar in the past."

As Eylara absorbed what Kahlan had just told her, it dawned on her why it seemed to be such an uncomfortable subject for the Mother Confessor. "You've gone through it, haven't you?" Kahlan simply looked at her in response. "You survived, though. It must mean you have a lot of strength in you."

Kahlan's eyes found the ground again. "Or someone has a lot of strength for me."

Eylara smiled. "Richard."

Kahlan was surprised. "Did you read that, too?"

The other woman shrugged. "I think I could've figured it out without reading. You know, the empathy. And maybe even without the empathy." A mixed expression crossed Kahlan's face, but it ended in a small smile that matched Eylara's. They both sat quietly for a short time.

"You need to learn to hold the power in," said Kahlan. "You won't need to when you switch, but it's important that you do while you're using Additive. You're probably not aware that you haven't been in control of it since you woke up, either."

Eylara released her knees with a start, trying to feel anything out of the ordinary. She couldn't, except for the subtle tingling in her fingers. Then she understood. It was as free as the rest of the magic within her, there to be used and unbound. But without being controlled, anyone who touched her - even accidentally - would end up Confessed. "That's also part of why Richard and Zedd aren't here, isn't it?" she asked. "It's not safe for them to be around me until I get a handle on it."

"Exactly."

Eylara shuddered to think what might happen if she couldn't control the power around Zedd, but more importantly, around the Seeker. One accidental touch, and his ability to fulfill the prophecy would be no more. "What do I have to do?"

"I can teach you," said Kahlan, "but Zedd says you already know how. You actively do it on a regular basis with another ability you've suppressed for a long time. The problem is, you'll have to remove the block on that in order to have the power necessary to control the power of Confession. If you don't, you might overextend your abilities, and who knows what that might do to you."

She went cold as she realized what she had to do. The thought of being able to hear the thoughts of others, after working so hard to lock that ability away, frightened her. But she knew that the need to control the Confessor's power far outweighed the need to silence her mind reading. It wouldn't have a direct impact on the lives of her companions unless she wanted it to. Confession would.

"I do know what to do," she said, swallowing hard. "I just . . . need a little time. It's going to be harder to do this with Confession than with mind-reading, isn't it?" Kahlan nodded. The differences in magnitude between the abilities were staggering. "Will you wait for me? Make sure I don't . . . mess up somehow?"

"I'll be right here. And I doubt you'll do something wrong in the process. You'll know when you've succeeded."

Resolutely, Eylara got up and walked down the hill to the level ground. Then, sitting cross-legged, she relaxed, keeping her back as straight as possible without being tense. She shut her eyes and pulled her awareness inside herself, searching, feeling for the flow of power that coursed throughout and without her unchecked . . .

* * * * *

_ It was there, showing itself well before everything else. In her mind, the magic blinded her with its brilliance, a wash of pulsing, throbbing, scintillating light of every conceivable color. Her psyche molding it into something she could make sense of, the light dispersed and flew outward into the landscape of a forest. The light flowed through illumined streams between the trees, each representing a channel of power within her. She immediately spotted the Confessor's power among them all - a wide river laced with roaring rapids. She watched where it flowed, where all of them flowed. She could see the indistinct ravel of the channels as a great, shining lake in the distance. The streams cascaded over the edge of a cliff and plunged into the shimmering light, but the lake was out of place, filling a valley that had clearly been empty before._

_Something else was wrong. As she looked out over the trees, she could see that most of them were on fire, set ablaze by the burning light from the streams. The fire was slowly spreading throughout the rest of her magical mindscape, and the damage was great. The sight terrified her, rooting her to the spot. The knowledge of just how little time she had left fell upon her heavily. She remembered that she had to keep moving. She had to remove one block and place another. Spotting a stream that had been dammed up, she ran for it._

_Instinctively, she thrust out her hands toward the boulders that stopped the luminous stream. The air quaked and rippled as her release of power slammed through the stones. They cracked, crumbled and gave way, releasing what she had kept at bay for so long. It was done._

_She turned around and faced the wide, rushing river. It seemed impossible. Thinking through her options, she reached down into the light, feeling it race through her fingers. Finally, she found an idea that she thought would work. Her hand still immersed, she stretched her power down into the mind-formed riverbed and pulled._

_The amount of concentration and focus it took for her to keep going with the task was completely new to her. She was sweating, gasping and shaking with the effort, but she held on, bringing the hidden stones up through the water-light. Presently, they were raised enough to hold the river back. She let go and dropped to her knees on the bank. The forest of her mind faded._

_Floating in a resting state between dreams and awareness, she could still feel the power. It was contained, but the hold felt tenuous. She learned it, the vibration of it, the way it felt with a wall thrown into its midst. She couldn't retreat back into her mind and go through the entire process of damming the river again every time she needed to hold it back. Learning how it felt was the only way she would be able to release and close off the power at will._

_Once she was satisfied, she let herself fall back out of her mind into reality._

* * * * *

The first thing she became aware of was a thought in her mind that wasn't her own. It was Kahlan's voice, unspoken. The Confessor was wondering how long it would take her to come back. "I am," she whispered, slowly opening her eyes. Kahlan was sitting across from her. "It's done."

"I know. I could tell when you turned it inward. How do you feel?"

"Tired." She shifted so that she could rest her arms on her knees. "I saw it, Kahlan. The magic - what a mess it is, what it's doing to me. I don't have much time left, mind or body." Her head dropped wearily into her hands. Kahlan put a consoling hand on her arm, but was silent. Eylara allowed her tears to come, slipping silently down her face as fear and helplessness overwhelmed her.

"Remember," said Kahlan after a time, "you can choose to get rid of the Listener's power once we have enough quillion." Eylara realized she was talking about the mind reading. Then she added, "You can also get rid of the power of Confession."

Something about the notion felt inexplicably odd to Eylara. "I could." Wiping her eyes, she looked up at Kahlan. "But don't the Midlands need more Confessors? I know how many of you there are, and if Rahl finds the others . . ."

"Eylara, don't even think about it. You have the chance to lead a normal life. Take it."

Without meaning to, Eylara heard what Kahlan wasn't telling her. _A husband, a family, a home, being able to spend your life with the one you love. It can never happen for a Confessor._ She blinked at the conviction in the thought. It took her some time to decide how best to answer.

"I still have a little time to weigh all my choices," she said. She heard Kahlan think something to the effect of, _Don't weigh a choice you'll regret_. Eylara was about to say something else, but at that moment, she heard Zedd and Richard coming over the hill, exuding hopeful triumph.


	8. Chapter 8: Cantorwick

**8 - ****Cantorwick**

Both women stood to greet them as they approached. Richard was carrying the Watcher's Eye, but it had been split in half. Zedd held a familiar metal box in the shape of a squat obelisk. Eylara knew what it was without having to be told. "Well, it took a bit of explaining to that cantankerous old ghost why you weren't with us," said Zedd, "but things seemed to be acceptable enough that he let us pass."

"Tengar's free?" Eylara asked hopefully.

"Yep, along with about half a dozen other spirits that were bound here as protectors," Richard informed her. "And now we're one artifact away from setting you straight." Eylara looked at the box cradled in Zedd's hands and grinned. Richard was about to give her a pat on the shoulder, but he stopped himself, shooting her a questioning look.

"It's okay," she told him. "I've got the power under control for now. Kahlan told me what Zedd said, about me already knowing how to do it. And she stayed with me until I discovered how to adapt it to the power of Confession." She smiled at the Mother Confessor. "Moral support that I couldn't have done without." Kahlan smiled in return. "So, any idea where we need to go next?"

"A parting gift from Tengar," replied Zedd, producing a sealed scroll container from his belt. "He said there are some catacombs buried under five ages' worth of changing earth just outside the village of Cantorwick. People dismiss the place as nothing but a bunch of old caves, but they never get very far inside to investigate because of the magical warding on the mausoleum. There was a powerful warlock named Garius buried there, along with all of his treasures. Apparently, the warding put on his tomb is so strong that anyone who goes near it comes running from the caves, mad with fear."

"So what's in the container?" asked Kahlan.

"We know about maps that can track people," said Zedd. "Tengar said this is a map he made that can track quillion artifacts. The ink used to print it was made from ground shards of a quillion crystal and can lead us straight to where Garius ordered the artifact to be buried."

Eylara gave an amazed laugh, feeling her spirits lift. "How long will it take us to get to Cantorwick?"

"By tomorrow morning, if we don't wait too long here," Kahlan answered. "The good thing is, we'll be safe there. Cantorwick is an anchoring point for the Resistance." Zedd nodded in accord.

"Let's eat something first," suggested Richard. "We won't get very far on empty stomachs."

* * *

Eylara endured another switch to Subtractive Magic just as they were prepared to leave Mizrak. It knocked her out completely. Zedd surmised that rather than deal with recovering in a state of wakefulness, her body had decided to conserve its own energy by shutting down until she was strong enough to deal with herself again. He did his best to work some restoration magic on her, but it was becoming exceedingly difficult. It drained him, and it was getting harder and harder for Eylara to deal with the burden of her magic physically. She was constantly pale, and her eyes had become sunken. The longer she bore such wild power, the more ill she would look and feel.

They decided that building another bower to drag her on was not worth the time. Zedd carried her in front if him as he rode, and they set off toward Cantorwick at no more than a trot.

After a few hours, the wizard heard her whispering. She was still sleeping, but there was Old Speech coming from her lips, so quiet as to be nearly mouthed. "_A'nem nen, a'nem rai, seth-erad . . ._" Zedd gave a start when he recognized the restoration spell. She wasn't merely repeating what she remembered him saying. She had changed the last word to apply to herself, rather than using the word Zedd had used to invoke the power on her. She _understood_ it. She whispered the words again.

Zedd reined to a stop, a sudden idea moving him to dismount, bringing the somnolent girl with him. Richard and Kahlan saw his abrupt halt and did the same, and Richard asked if something was wrong. "No," the wizard replied. "Just testing a theory." He laid Eylara on the grass beneath a tree and took her hand. She began another repetition of the spell. This time, Zedd joined her. "_A'nem nen, a'nem rai, seth-eru . . ._"

Sure enough, he felt the strength of the incantation double as the spoken magic from both of them amplified the effect. Together, they intoned it once more. The ground beneath her radiated a remote glow as the power of regeneration soaked into her. Her whispers trailed off, and Zedd kept hold of her hand. Five minutes later, she opened her eyes. The glance that passed between her and the wizard revealed everything. "Good girl," he murmured, pulling her to sitting. "Good girl."

"Zedd," she said, "I knew what I was saying this time. How did I do that?"

"You might have dreamed into the past to learn some of it," he answered. "It's the opposing power to dreaming into the future. Quite useful for just such a situation. Or, you might have absorbed it from me somehow."

Eylara felt restored, yet not quite . . . right. Zedd renewed the caging spell for good measure, but it didn't help the feeling go away. She didn't think much of it. The wizard, however, grew more worried. Even so, he got back on his horse, pulling her up behind him, and they continued onward.

The mind reading ability hadn't gone away with the switch. Eylara was quite annoyed to discover this and wondered why it hadn't changed. She decided to ask Zedd about it later. For the time being, she concentrated on learning to ignore the thoughts of the three people with her. In general, Zedd thought about Richard, his past and food a lot, while Richard and Kahlan thought about different scenarios that would lead to defeating Darken Rahl. They also thought about each other very often, and while the power in those thoughts was incredible, they both tended to stifle them very quickly. She knew why they did, and it made her sad for them. She wished she could figure out something to say to one or both of them to help them see that love was stronger than magic. She also tried to think of how she could explain her surety of that belief.

Finally, she got their thoughts to become no more than background chatter that she was relatively comfortable with. Still curious about the Confessor's power and the Con Dar, she asked Kahlan to teach her some more about them as they rode on. The Mother Confessor obliged, and even told her about how the hair-cutting incident the day before was relevant. That was how Eylara came to understand the pain she'd felt: Confessors could not cut their hair without experiencing it. Hair length was a status symbol in the Midlands, and since Confessors were regarded as the highest authorities, their hair was longest. She thought it an odd side effect of such significant magic, but figured it to be a sort of reminder to the Confessors about who they were.

"What did you do for a living in your world, Eylara?" Richard asked after a time.

The girl smiled, more than willing to take on a lighter subject. "I was a student. But if you really get down to it, I was a musician. Music was my life. I played instruments, sang, composed, led other musicians . . ." Her expression seemed far off, even a bit sad. "Music carries its own magic, something that people can be affected by without even knowing it. You can either wield that magic as the musician, or be moved by it as the listener. Either way, it's powerful stuff."

"Maybe you'd share a little with us," suggested Richard.

Eylara gave a short laugh. "I'm thinking it'll be a little hard to do that on horseback! Besides, I don't have any instruments, and I don't know the music of this world yet."

"I'm sure we'll end up hearing some in Cantorwick," said Zedd, "especially if we end up staying at that cozy little inn with the excellent cook. There always seem to be musicians there."

"If there isn't trouble," Kahlan cut in, pointing uphill. "Look."

The trees were thinning, opening up as they approached the apex of the steady rise they'd been climbing for some time. There, against the darkening evening sky, plumes of black smoke were rising from a few not-so-distant points past the top. Richard called them to a halt. "That looks too out of control to be from watch fires," he observed. "You said this town was a sort of headquarters for the Resistance?" Kahlan nodded. "Do you know if there are any D'Haran garrisons nearby that might've been watching them, waiting for them to make a mistake?"

"The nearest one was almost a half-day's ride away," she replied. "Fort Henatir. Cantorwick tithed to them as part of their cover; there've never been any problems."

"Until now," muttered Zedd. "I'll bet someone found something that called down Rahl's wrath upon them."

"I think there's something I can do to see what's going on," said Eylara, her voice almost halting as a strange sensation began pulsing through her head and down into her hands. She got off Zedd's horse and walked to the front of the group, standing in the middle of the road and facing uphill. As though floating on an unseen power, her hands lifted to an angle out in front of her, making her look like she was offering something forward. She took a slow, deep breath in and out, and her eyes narrowed. Zedd watched as they became overcast with a violet-white glow.

Eylara willed her vision forward, up the road, over the top, where the land became level and open to low, rolling grasslands surrounded by more woods in the distance. Cantorwick, encircled by a high fence of pine logs, sat in the middle. She gasped in horror at what she saw. Homes burned, and people were racing about frantically to douse the flames. The main entry gates had been all but hacked to pieces. Bodies lay in the streets. D'Haran soldiers roamed freely, beating down the few pockets of resistance that sprang from the shadows and kicking down doors to search for more people to condemn. Outside the wall, near the entry, a group of them were busily constructing something from spare pieces of wood. Her jaw dropped at what it was turning out to be. A gallows.

She staggered back a few paces into Richard as her vision snapped to normal. "They've been attacked . . . stormed and burned," she said, her voice shaking with horror. "The soldiers killed people and left them in the streets, and they'll make an example of some of the survivors on a gallows outside the town . . . And they're still looking, still killing!" Her revulsion gave way to anger and a desire for justice. "We have to do something!"

The other three didn't need convincing. "How many soldiers did you see?" Richard asked as everyone dismounted. They tied off the horses in a stand of trees.

"Around thirty, I think," she answered. "From the top of the road, I think we have about a ten minute walk until we're within sight of the guards." She explained where the fires were and the positions of the stationary sentries as she had seen them. The prospect of such a battle made her nervous. "Thirty guards, four of us . . . I don't care how well we all fight; someone's going to get badly wounded if not killed."

"Yes, but I don't have another wizard to contend with, and you aren't occupied with another task this time," Zedd pointed out.

Eylara also suspected that Kahlan would have no qualms about using her power, which gave them one guard on their "side" as well, fighting with all the ferocity he could muster. "I wish I were in Additive right now," she muttered without thinking. Kahlan gave her a sharp look of rebuke, quickly surmising why the other woman's thoughts had turned where they had. Eylara flinched, an instantly repentant expression flickering across her features before her thoughts returned to the severity of the matter at hand. An idea suddenly sprang to her mind, making her smile. However, before she could voice it, she heard a noise. The others heard it as well. It was the click of a crossbow being readied to fire.

They turned to face the woods just as a group of eight dark figures burst from the shadows. "Don't move!" snarled the cloaked man closest to them. It was clear to Eylara that they weren't D'Haran soldiers. She gave a closer listen to their thoughts. They were terrified, suspicious of everyone, frightened for those in the village and desperate for a way to reclaim the place.

"Wait, wait!" cried Richard as the four of them held up their hands. "We're not D'Harans! We're here to help!"

Another man quickly stepped forward, lowering his crossbow and throwing back the hood of his cloak. He looked straight at the Mother Confessor. "Kahlan? Is it you?"

She peered hard at his face in the dim light before her eyes went wide with recognition. "Aiden?"

A wide white grin flashed in a dirt-stained, whisker-shadowed face. "Lower your weapons!" he said. "They're friends! It's the Mother Confessor." Seven other crossbows retracted their aims, and the rest of the men pulled off their hoods. Relieved, the man Kahlan had called Aiden stepped toward her with outstretched arms, and they embraced in relief. Eylara heard various thoughts lifted in thanks to the spirits and the Creator.

"Aiden and his family helped Denee and I when we left Aydindril for Hartland," Kahlan explained before introducing Richard, Zedd and Eylara.

"I'm Lanick," said the leader. "Our little group here managed to escape into the woods when the D'Harans began their attack. We've been out here for the past two hours trying to figure out what to do without committing suicide." He looked at Richard. "We're in your service, Seeker. If you've got a plan, just tell us what to do. We've got to retake Cantorwick before they kill us all or make off with our families."

Richard smiled. "Well, now that we've got reinforcements, I think a more solid plan sounds great."

"Eylara, what was your idea?" asked Kahlan.

"Well, I can remember the rain summons that Zedd told me I was reciting during one of my recoveries," she replied. "A good, strong downpour will have all those soldiers slogging around in their heavy armor and mail in no time. Plus, it'll help get those fires out." She turned to Zedd. "But if I'm going to be any use in the fight, I'll need your help." The wizard nodded, the corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile.

The four of them worked quickly with the eight men from the town to devise a sound battle plan. It was nothing but a straightforward and simple attack, no tricks involved, but risky nonetheless. Around half of the guards were near the town gates, and some of them had been posted as archers. They were fortunate that the men from Cantorwick all had their own crossbows, and most of them were more powerful than the standard issue archery equipment possessed by the D'Harans. They were soon ready. The dozen defenders split their numbers on each side of the road and headed uphill.

The sight of the burning buildings made Eylara sorrowful and enraged all at once. From the edge of the trees, she strode determinedly forward, stopping twelve paces out with Zedd at her side. The wizard sighed heavily. "Remember, child," he said, "call it with a strong, commanding voice. This is nature we're summoning here. Respect it, let it know you realize its power, but tell it that you recognize you're a part of it, too." Her knees trembled with the weight of what Zedd had just told her, but she straightened and nodded. Together, they raised their faces and hands toward the sky. Eylara pulled strength from deep inside her to guide her voice, and she and the wizard began the incantation.

"_Turu hai zemn calath-or had, hai baneh tri a'nem zo laht ri'shal!_" They repeated the words three times, each with growing intensity. Clouds gathered and blackened above them, swirling and flickering with hidden lightning. Growing heavier and heavier with rain, they thickened and hung menacingly overhead. In the distance, the soldiers constructing the gibbet worked faster, glancing apprehensively at the threatening sky. Eylara and Zedd uttered the old words a fourth and final time, a cry of command to a sky that had come willingly to mete out justice by deluge. "_TURU HAI ZEMN CALATH-OR HAD, HAI BANEH TRI A'NEM ZO LAT RI'SHAL!_"

Lightning lanced across the sky, followed by a deafening crack of thunder that echoed back from the surrounding land. The clouds released their white-knuckled grasp upon the rain, sending it down upon burning Cantorwick and the surrounding land in drenching sheets. Everyone was soaked through in little more than a minute, but they didn't care. The rain would soften the ground, impairing the soldiers' ability to move easily. It would stifle the flames that were consuming people's homes. It would reduce visibility and muffle any sounds they made when they approached. It was just what they needed.

Eylara wavered, fighting against her muscles' desire to give, and won. Zedd kept his face turned skyward for a moment, planting his fists on his hips. "That is one good, heavy rainstorm," he said, smiling at Eylara. "Well done, my dear!" She gave him a breathless grin, and they returned to where their comrades waited at the edge of the trees. Staying low in the grass, they advanced toward the besieged town.

A stand of low bushes provided a hiding spot about a hundred paces from the walls. The archers hadn't noticed them yet through the downpour, and they took the time to survey their situation further. Eylara saw that the gallows had been completed, and the soldiers responsible for it were nowhere to be seen. Four bowmen paced the foremost wooden rampart. Six stood in a loose group near the splintered gate frame, talking loudly over the rain in complaining tones, although someone would occasionally say something to get a laugh. Three others struggled to erect a few makeshift lean-tos for the horses that had accompanied the soldiers to their conquest.

The four men responsible for the gibbet returned, and Eylara was horrified to see that each one pulled a captured rebel behind him by a chain attached to wrist manacles. They were all women. One of the men made a strangled sound and started forward, but another held him back. "It's my wife!" he choked out just over the rain. "They've got our wives, our daughters . . . They're trying to make us come out!" Eylara was appalled. They wouldn't rest until every last shred of opposition to Rahl in Cantorwick was killed by sword or bolt, or hanged. A burning ire rose within her, and it took a fair amount of will to quell it. Eighteen soldiers now stood between them and the gate. Four women were about to be executed in front of them.

The sun had set fully behind the rain, and the only light came from the sheltered watch fires. The burning buildings had been extinguished, a revelation that helped Eylara regain some level-headedness over the anger. The murky darkness gave them plenty to work with, and the fact that Zedd had cast a night-sight spell over all except Eylara was just another bonus. It was time to act. Richard raised his arm in signal, and four of the men readied their crossbows, each taking aim at one of the archers on the wall. Lightning flashed, and they counted. _One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . ._ As the thunder boomed through the hills, Richard brought his arm down. Four bolts whistled through the night, and the bowmen toppled from their posts as the rumble subsided. It took the other guards a full minute to realize what had just happened. The group of six pulled their swords and stalked toward their hiding spot as the shooters ducked back behind the bushes.

Eylara continued to watch the gallows as the other soldiers came closer. There would be no formal announcement of the executions, no record and no waiting. Once the final noose was tightened, the lever would be pulled. She looked over at Richard. He was clearly trying to figure out how to get to them without blowing their cover, just as she was. They had to act swiftly. The man whose wife stood on the platform was in a shivering panic. "Seeker, we can't let them kill her! Please, do something!" Richard drew the Sword, and at the same instant, Eylara got the overwhelming urge to pull the Dagger. She suddenly had a thought of what to do with it.

"Wait!" she said, causing Richard to stop in the middle of rising. "I have an idea. Everybody look away; this might be bright." She could sense the confusion in them, but they complied. With that she looked back toward the gallows. The last noose was being tightened.

In a blur of motion, Eylara drew the blazing white Dagger, stood up and swung the crystal weapon out before her. An arc of brilliant, deadly luminance dazzled and sliced through the shadows, and Eylara guided it straight for the nooses that were about to stretch with the weight of four bodies. It burned cleanly through the ropes, dissipating with a hiss against the rain-soaked wall beyond. The freed women collapsed to their knees, clasping their necks in disbelief and then huddling together away from their executioners.

The consequences of facing the eruption from the Dagger of Dawn became painfully evident among the advancing guards. They had all been blinded, though not permanently. So had the soldiers at the gallows. The crossbows made quick work of them, but the ones that had been working on the lean-tos dashed inside and raised an alarm. They waited. Taking fourteen of the eighteen down left them with sixteen more opponents, give or take a few. It was going to be easier than their battle at Dorivan had been, especially with eight extra men on their side. Even so, they knew it would be foolish to underestimate them. They watched the soldiers from inside the town form up at the gate. "How did you know to do that?" Richard whispered over to Eylara.

"I don't know," she replied. "I just . . . knew." The girl shrugged, unable to say anything more on the matter.

It was a good thing that they had decided to sit and watch for a moment. The sound of marching came to them from along the eastern wall, and soon a battalion appeared and rounded the bend to the front gate. The guard who had been mustering his remaining men turned and saluted the leader of the elite fighters, and the two conversed briefly before the newly arrived captain called the seventeen other men forward. They marched out of the gate until they were told to halt. The battalion took up flanking positions on either side of the larger contingent, and the combined forces started a slow advance.

"I count twenty-nine," whispered Lanick. "All our previous work may as well have been for nothing."

"We can still take them down," whispered Richard. "Don't worry. Just stick with the rest of the plan, and we'll be fine." Eylara heard thoughts that it was easy for the Seeker to say with the Sword of Truth in his hands, but she knew that the men weren't about to turn and run. In spite of their doubts, their faith in the Seeker was strong. They readied their crossbows. Kahlan pulled her daggers, and Zedd rolled up his dripping sleeves. Eylara had re-sheathed the Dagger and wouldn't draw it again until they attacked for fear of the light drawing unneeded attention before it was due. As soon as the D'Harans had come within fifty paces of the bushes, the men opened fire. Eight soldiers immediately collapsed with bolts in their stomachs. Swords hissed from their scabbards, and the fight was on.

The light from the Dagger was nowhere near as strong as it had been when she'd used it only a short while before, but Eylara didn't dwell on it. That fact wasn't affecting the sharpness of the blade, which sank easily through the thick armor of spear-wielding guard. There were short bursts of flame from where Zedd fought with Wizard's Fire, and she could feel the impact to the air when he used repulsion, which gusted the rain around them every time. A pained cry went up from one of the men fighting near her, and Eylara spun around and slashed at his attacker. It was no use. Though she had killed the D'Haran, the rebel dropped as well.

Richard felled soldiers like trees with the Sword of Truth, doing his best to take on his own assailants while dealing with any who got too close to their allies. All at once, Eylara felt a surge of devastating intent swell from Kahlan, and she turned just in time to see the Mother Confessor block a blow from the battalion leader, thrust her hand up under his chin and Confess him. Weakened, Kahlan staggered and fell to her knees. Eylara finished her present attacker and threw out her hands to blast back a soldier that was advancing on the Confessor, borrowing a bit from Zedd. She stayed close by, fending off the soldiers until Kahlan found the strength to stand and fight again. By the time that happened, only seven guards remained. Two from the original contingent tried to flee, perhaps intending to run on to Fort Henatir for reinforcements. A couple of bolts in the back put an end to their plans.

At the end of the melee, half of their allies had perished. As if on cue, the rain slowed considerably, reducing itself to little more than a steady drizzle as the clouds thinned and allowed the barest hint of moonlight to illuminate the carnage around them. The death surrounding her, the finality of things, the fact that she had taken lives suddenly bore down on Eylara like so many loads of bricks. Numb, she dropped to her knees. They had won. They had reclaimed Cantorwick . . . but so much bloodshed . . .

She became aware of a hand on her shoulder, and that there were tears mingling with the rain pouring over her face. She looked up to meet Zedd's expression of haunted understanding, framed by his wet, stringy white hair. "I know, dear one," he told her quietly. "It's never easy, this business of war. Things should never have to come to this, for those who hold what is right so highly in their hearts. But as long as there is such evil, there will always be blood. It is for the Seeker to make sure that none of it is shed in vain."

Eylara looked at Richard, remorse gripping her heart as she realized the extent of his burden. She knew Kahlan and Zedd bore much of that weight along with him, as did some people in the Resistance. It struck her that now, as the result of her choice to stay with them and her desire to aid the Seeker, some of the burden was hers as well. If it was possible to feel honored and aggrieved at the same time, she did.

The women who had been cowering by the gallows came running toward them. Three of them began thanking Eylara and the others profusely. The fourth went among the men, looking for her husband. It hadn't occurred to any of them that he was among the fallen. She screamed in devastation when she saw him lying on his back, his life's blood oozing from a sword wound across his neck and chest. The other women stood and stared with their hands pressed against their mouths or chests, freely weeping. Stricken, Eylara went to the woman who was on the ground, cradling her husband's head in her lap, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed. The girl knelt beside her and put her arm around the woman's shoulders, not caring that she didn't even know her name. The woman clung to her over-tunic, her eyes still fixed on the fallen man. "Oh . . ." she managed between sobs, "Geoff . . . my poor Geoff . . . we had only been married two weeks . . . and I just found out today . . . I couldn't tell him . . . and now . . ." She could say no more. She buried her face hard into Eylara's shoulder and wept uncontrollably. Eylara couldn't contain her own sorrow and wrapped her arms around the widow, crying with her.

Time seemed to crawl past. She could feel the others standing around them, silently grieving. With a labored sigh, Zedd knelt down and passed his hand over the ugly, gaping wound, sealing it shut so that the man might at least have some dignity in death. By that point, the woman in Eylara's arms had wept herself voiceless. The girl thought for a long time. She felt that there must be something she could do. So much power rested in her . . . but who was she to entertain the notion of bringing someone back from the dead? Still . . . She thought she vaguely remembered reading about an ability possessed by certain magic-wielders in that world, but she couldn't remember exactly what it was or who those people were. However, the thought seemed to trigger something, touching a channel of the Subtractive and bringing it to the front of her awareness. Blinking at the strange new sensation that was making her head feel on the verge of swimming, she let the woman go.

She placed a hand on the man's chest, above his motionless heart. There was still something in him, a very faint spark that hadn't left yet. She wiped her eyes, her brows knitting as she considered the impulse that was moving inside her. She followed it. Hesitantly, aware of the confounded stares she was garnering from the woman and those around her, she brought her face close to his. Then, her lips hovering a scant couple of inches above his, she slowly exhaled. Something left on her breath, all at once warm and cold, air and light. The others saw a faintly luminous wisp of bluish energy stream from her mouth. It found its way between the dead man's lips and into his nostrils, fading away. Suddenly dizzy, she rocked back and sat on the sodden ground. As she and everyone else watched, the man's chest suddenly rose, gasping in air. He coughed, and his eyes fluttered open. The life had returned to him.

He sat up, glancing about at the people surrounding him, and then saw his wife. She was staring at him, dumbfounded. "Leona . . ." he breathed hoarsely, reaching a shaking hand toward her face.

"Geoff?" As his fingers met her cheek, she grabbed his arm, feeling it as though in doubt of her own senses. "You're . . . you're . . ." She fell into his embrace, and they held on to each other tightly, crying for joy and thanking the spirits with every incoherent praise imaginable. Eylara sat and watched them, amazed at herself, at what she was witnessing, barely aware of Kahlan kneeling beside her.

"How did I do that?" Eylara whispered. She sensed a curious mix of admiration and apprehension coming from the Confessor, but the more positive aspect had the upper hand.

"I'll tell you later, when there aren't so many ears around," Kahlan whispered back.

Leona and Geoff broke apart and turned toward Eylara. "Who are you?" the woman asked, her voice barely intact.

The girl smiled warmly at them. "I'm Eylara. I'm a friend of the Seeker, and the Mother Confessor." She tried to look up and behind her at Zedd. "And the First Wizard." The act almost made her fall over, but Kahlan made sure she didn't, raising an amused eyebrow at her.

Leona reached over and covered Eylara's hand in hers, her eyes brimming. "I don't know how you brought Geoff back, and maybe I don't need to know. I just understand that there's powerful magic in you, and it's on the side of the Seeker. That's enough for me. Thank you. Thank you so much . . ." Leona threw her arms around the girl, and Eylara felt tears rising again. Geoff, who was speechless so far, whispered his thanks and embraced her as well.

An abrupt thought prickled the hairs on the back of her neck. "The others," she breathed, remembering the three rebels that had fallen apart from Geoff. She got up, though her steps were unsteady, and went to the nearest man on the ground. She immediately saw that he was a hopeless case; he had been pierced straight through the heart with a bolt, and the damage was irreparable - even for Zedd. The spark in him had vanished. She moved on. The next man had a broken neck. Zedd mended it, and Eylara was able to find the elusive spark within him. She breathed the strange magic into his mouth, and he woke. The effort kept her on her knees for a few moments before she came to the last man. She couldn't even look at him; a sword had nearly taken his head entirely. There was no way to bring him back. She had to fight a wave of nausea, and Richard helped her away from the sickening sight. After a few moments, they went into the town, led by Lanick and Aiden.

* * *

People were cautiously emerging from their houses as the group came down the street, surveying the damage inflicted by the siege. Ragged fighters, dirty, wounded and exhausted from battle, trudged through the mud to see who had saved them and rescued the ones to be hung. The women ran to their families as soon as they came into view, crying and hugging as many as they could get their arms around. Eylara saw some bodies laying in the side passages, but when she moved toward one, Zedd stopped her. "It's too late for them, Eylara," he said sorrowfully. "The magic you used on Geoff and Nolan only works within a short amount of time. These people have been dead for hours." Hesitantly, she continued on with the others, her heart aching every time she saw another deceased.

Four homes had been razed by the D'Harans, but the rain that she and Zedd summoned had saved countless others. A few of them would have to be cleaned up and rebuilt in parts. Those with intact houses were already taking in the displaced families. A new watch had been posted on the ramparts. Lanterns were being lit outside homes and businesses that weren't closed for the night. "They bounce back quickly," Eylara observed quietly.

"They have to," said Kahlan. "That's the way of the Resistance. Rahl is relentless, and they have to be just as determined as he is."

They came to the center of town, where a man with his arm in a sling met Lanick with an embrace. They looked related. After a short, quiet conversation, the man turned to their group of four. "Seeker," he said, his deep voice weary and full of emotion, "thank you, and those with you, for coming to our aid in our greatest hour of need. I'm Ergan, councilor of Cantorwick. My brother, Lanick, is head of the Resistance forces here. We're honored to have you with us. If there's anything we can do for any of you, just ask."

Richard clasped his good arm. "Thank you, Ergan. We're just glad we got here before anything worse happened." There were many expressions of gratitude bestowed upon the four of them, and the men that had escaped to fight alongside them were being extolled as heroes.

By and by, Aiden found them again. "The inn is up and running," he said. "I can't imagine how tired and hungry you all must be. Come on; I'll take you there." No one argued the matter. They were famished, exhausted and needed to be rid of the mud and blood that clung to their skin and clothing. Eylara was chilled to the bone from the rain and doubted she was the only one. She was glad that the inn was close by. Aiden shouldered the door open, letting them pass into the inviting warmth and light that met them from beyond the threshold.

The place looked as though it had been untouched by the earlier atrocities. There was even a man sitting at the bar drinking, a bloodied axe still hanging from his belt as evidence of what he had just been through. A short, plump lady with frazzled red hair looked up from where she had been sweeping some broken glass into a basket and gave them a pleasant smile. In spite of her cheery, maternal appearance, her eyes had dark circles beneath them. "Aiden told me you were coming," she said. "I've got some bread and stew going, and four beds upstairs." She gave Kahlan a familiar embrace. "So good to see you again, my dear." Aiden explained that the woman was his mother. Eylara smiled. Even with the grime on his face, she could make out the resemblance.

After the others introduced themselves, the woman led them to the second floor. "You wouldn't be able to tell what happened by coming in here," commented Richard.

Aiden's mother chuckled. "This was one of the first places they barged into. I was the only one here of course; my usual customers were out trying to defend us as soon as the D'Harans came into view. They knocked over a few tables, ransacked a room or two, roughed me up a bit, but other than that, nothing major. They got a torch up on the roof, but the rain started right after that, so it didn't last long. I think I got the hole in the thatching patched up alright, but if something starts leaking, let me know."

"Sorcha, you really are amazing," said Kahlan.

The woman laughed. "I'm just a mother and a wife with a healthy disdain for tyranny and two men and daughter to mind, but if that makes me amazing, what'll this title me? I've drawn hot water in the tub downstairs, and you can leave your dirty things there for me to get when you're done. I'll have them cleaned up for you by morning."

Eylara grinned. "I'd say that makes you a queen among women, my lady," said Zedd with the most chivalrous inflection to his voice he could muster. Sorcha blushed to a shade that nearly matched her hair, and Richard gave her shoulders a grateful squeeze.

Their beds were in four small rooms that faced each other, lining the hall. They were cozy and pleasant, and everyone deposited their packs on the floor gratefully. They told Eylara to head down to the baths first, but she realized she didn't have a change of clothes. Sorcha had gone back to the main room to finish cleaning up, and Aiden was helping her. Eylara told her about her issue, which prompted Aiden and his mother to look her up and down. "I'll bet Kell has some travel garb she doesn't use anymore that would fit her," he said. "They're about the same size, aren't they?"

"I'll bet it works," Sorcha replied. "Go get it from her chest. The green and brown set; that's the one we never see her in." Aiden hurried out the door, and Sorcha turned back to her work. "Our daughter Kell went off to run an errand in Macklin last week," she said. "It's a good thing the weather delayed her, else she would've been around when we were attacked." She bustled over to the fire, swinging the pot of stew out of the flames, stirring it a bit, tasting it, and then nodding.

"Where's the rest of your family?" Eylara asked.

Sorcha pulled a loaf of bread from a brick alcove above the hearth. "Well, my son is here, obviously. Lanick's had him under his wing for a while, making a deputy out of him, I guess. It scares me to death sometimes, but if anyone can take over if something happens to Lanick, it'll be my Aiden. As for my husband, Garrett, he's out on the road somewhere. He travels from place to place, helping out the Resistance where he's needed, spying for our headquarters. He sends word by courier as often as he can."

"When was the last time you heard from him?"

She smiled and handed Eylara a mug of water. "Two days ago. He's a crafty one, my Garrett. He's gotten so close to being captured a few times that I've been worried sick and sleepless, but he's always managed to get out of those messes." Eylara smiled back and took a drink. She admired Sorcha. She was a strong and practical woman with a great deal of faith in her loved ones. She had a heart that was big and kind, and Eylara felt very at ease with her.

Sorcha suddenly came close to her, leaning in a bit. "Aiden said you brought Leona's husband back to life after the fight, and Nolan Greysen. That's some strong magic. Is it true?" Eylara was too tired to guard her answer, but she didn't feel it necessary. She nodded. "Are you a sorceress?"

The girl laughed. "No, no, I'm not a sorceress. I've just . . . got a lot of magic in me that I don't always know what to do with. Wizard Zorander is helping me learn to handle it the right way."

"Well, if anyone can teach you, it's him," said Sorcha matter-of-factly as she sliced the bread. "I'm glad you were able to do that for Leona. Those two have only been wed for a fortnight, and she's expecting. I think she was just on her way from the doctor to find Geoff so she could give him the news when all this started." Eylara was taken aback. So _that_ was what Leona had meant before she'd brought Geoff back. Now their child would know its father. Her eyes blurred with tears at the thought.

Aiden came back with a rather substantial bundle in his arms. "The rain's stopped," he said. "It looks like most of what had to be moved outside is gone now. We'll wait 'til morning to tend to the damage and burials." He handed the bundle over to Eylara, who thanked him and his mother and promptly disappeared downstairs.

She tried not to linger too long in the hot water, knowing that she wasn't the only one who needed it. It was the first time in three days that she had been in any sort of water voluntarily, not to mention without freezing to her marrow. She thought she might have shed an entire layer of grime that had been posing as skin. As she was scrubbing at her arms, she noticed something disturbing. A very faint lattice of bluish veining was covering her skin. It didn't look the same as the veins that were close to the surface around her wrists or the insides of her elbows. The markings were an unnatural sky blue with an almost icy, iridescent quality. They were barely visible, but she hadn't seen them before. It worried her. She wondered if it was a sign of her increasing physical weakness.

Afterward, she unbundled the clothes Aiden had brought for her, looking over them with satisfaction. They were of a handsome brown color trimmed with a deep forest green, clearly designed for woodland travel in both color and sturdiness. The pants were close fitting and double layered, the inner layer being a smooth fabric and the outer being soft, tough leather. The under tunic was green and breathed well, while the over tunic was really a sleeveless surcoat of sorts that laced closed in front and hung to about mid-calf. To go over the entire outfit was an ankle-length travel coat that belted and had slits in the sides to allow for ease of movement. She put on all but the coat and cleaned off her boots to reuse, leaving her old clothes in a corner for Sorcha. After brushing out her hair, she felt almost completely like new, save for the fact that her stomach was complaining. She could smell the stew from the level above and left the bathing room with an anticipatory spring in her step.

The others had come down for food as well and were sitting around one of the back tables when Eylara arrived. Zedd had already plowed through his initial bowl of stew and bread and looked up at her along with Richard and Kahlan. "Ah, there's what she really looks like!" said the wizard, swallowing. She laughed and sat down. "How are you feeling now, dear one?"

"That's easy; she's hungry, of course," came a voice before she could answer. Sorcha swept up beside her and set down a bowl of stew and some bread along with a new cup of water.

"She's good," said Eylara with a grin, thanking her sincerely. "I feel like a normal person again, mostly." She thought about showing Zedd the strange patterns on her skin, but decided to save it for later.

After they had all eaten, they sat at the table and talked for a long while about whatever happened to cross their minds, with each leaving at various points to go downstairs. When they were all back, Eylara remembered to ask Kahlan about the magic she had used. She felt a twinge of the same mix of admiration and apprehension from the Mother Confessor that she'd sensed earlier. "Appropriately enough, it's called the Breath of Life."

There was a wave of discomfort from Richard, but Eylara thought she might come to understand the reason for it momentarily. "Why does it work while I'm in the Subtractive?" she asked.

"Because you aren't creating or re-animating life where there used to be life," Kahlan explained. "Instead, you're destroying the hold of the Underworld that's drawing a soul into it, pulling that life back. That's why it can only be used within a certain amount of time. After that, the last remaining spark of being gets taken fully into the Underworld, and the soul remains there."

"So if it's based in the Subtractive, who's able to use it?"

"Only the Mord-Sith," Kahlan answered quietly. That tied in directly to the apprehension Eylara was picking up from her, as well as Richard's unease.

She frowned. "Why would they want to bring back the people they kill?"

"Torture is their way of dealing with just about everything," Richard said tensely. "That's what Rahl created them to do. Once they have someone to 'train', there's no reason for them to stop if they've killed someone. They can keep doing their job as long as they can bring someone back." Eylara knew by one look into his eyes that it was something he had experienced firsthand. Ambivalence toward her newfound ability was all she could feel.

Zedd reached across the table and patted her hand. "Don't worry, Eylara," he said. "I don't have to read your mind to know what you're thinking. You're far from capable of acting like a Mord-Sith. We know what you're about."

"I know," she said quietly. "I would just hate for someone to draw some imaginary line between me and them just because I have the Breath of Life."

"It isn't common knowledge that the Mord-Sith can do it," Kahlan assured her.

"I should still be careful, though," she countered. "All it takes is someone with a suspicious mind who _does_ know to get people after me. People can be stupid when they're afraid something's true, even if it clearly isn't." She looked at Zedd. "Wizard's First Rule, right Zedd?"

He nodded slowly, not the least bit surprised that she knew. "Indeed."

She had another question for the wizard and pulled the Dagger of Dawn from her belt, setting it on the table in front of her. "Do you have any more ideas about what's going on with me and this? You saw what I did, or what it did. I can't explain that, or myself."

Zedd picked it up and turned it over in his fingers for a few minutes, his eyebrows coming together in thought as he examined it. "Maybe it's a weapon of intent," thought Richard.

"What does that mean?" Eylara asked. The Seeker gave her a slightly startled look, and it was then that she realized she'd heard his mind, not his voice. She felt a touch of embarrassed heat rise to her cheeks. "Sorry. It's hard to tell the difference right away when I'm tired."

"It's okay," said Richard with a friendly smirk. He told the others what he'd thought, and then went on to explain. "The Sword of Truth is a weapon of intent. Part of its power is affected by the focus of rage through it; whatever I intend to do with the Sword is amplified by that focus. You said the Dagger was a weapon of light, so maybe that isn't just in a literal sense. You've shown how much you value what's right, which can be a sort of light. Maybe your desire to stop a deed of darkness gives power to the Dagger." Her eyebrows lifted slightly as she considered his words. It made sense to her.

"I think you're on the right track, Richard," said the wizard. Eylara stared at the finger he was tracing over the blade, watching tiny arcs of lightning jumping between the two surfaces. "There's still something very strange about the crystal, though. The more I search through it with magic, the more familiar its composition seems to me, but it's . . . dormant."

"Dormant until Eylara uses it?" asked Kahlan.

"No, more than that. Obviously, magic wakes it when it's called upon in combat, but there's something else to it, something deeper. There needs to be a stronger magic present to unlock its full potential. I just can't guess what that magic is."

They talked for a short while more, agreeing to help the people of Cantorwick with their continued cleanup in the morning before continuing on in their search for more quillion. They couldn't evade sleep any longer, and so went up to their rooms and gave in to it.


	9. Chapter 9: What Lies Hidden

**9 - ****What Lies Hidden**

Eylara was sore beyond belief the next morning. She could tell that she was much weaker, both physically and mentally. The magic was burning in her very blood, barely contained by Zedd's caging spell. She thought she would more than likely be dead already if it hadn't been for his magic. She looked at the back of her hand. The odd bluish patterning had darkened a bit. There was no mistaking its presence now.

Finally, she became aware of the fact that the others weren't in their rooms. Bright daylight seeped in under her door from a window down the hall. She could hear the muted sounds of working outside. She felt that it was rather late in the morning and was sure that Zedd had insisted on having her sleep in again. She wasn't particularly happy about that, but since nothing could be done about it and she wasn't about to fault them for it, she got up, brushed her hair and pulled on her boots and coat. She would eat and go out to find them.

There was a small mirror on the wall above the convenience chest in her room. She hadn't noticed it before. As she passed it, she stopped and stared. She looked terrible. Her eyes were bloodshot enough to make it appear as though she hadn't slept for days. Dark rings made them look sunken. The veining was very obvious. Eylara was not a vain person, but because she knew she had the ability to do so, she changed her appearance just a little bit, covering the patterning and the dark rings and taking the red from her eyes. After that, she looked closer to the way she normally did, but there was much less color to her skin than there should have been. She sucked in a trembling breath as she realized that her condition was probably worse than she thought it was. If she was going to survive, she needed the quillion by the next day and no later than the day after. She was sure of it.

After coming to terms with the reality of things, she went downstairs and was met by Aiden. He looked remarkably different after a good night's sleep and some cleaning up. Short, wavy black hair stood in stark contrast to incredibly bright green eyes. He still looked a bit scruffy, the shadow of a beard darkening his face, but it appeared intentional. He was perhaps a year or two older than her, strong-bodied from hard work and combat, but kindly at the same time. She liked him much better in the daylight, without the imposing dark cloak and crossbow.

"It's good to see you're awake," he said, greeting her with a wide smile. "I have some news for you. Wizard Zorander wanted me to tell you that you went through another switch last night while you slept . . . I guess you would know what that means . . ." She nodded, understanding why she felt and looked as she did. She became aware of the Confessor's power and quickly threw up a wall against it. It relieved her that she was able to remember how to do it so quickly. "That's why they didn't wake you when they went out to help this morning. They're still out there and they know you'll join them when you're ready, but you're not to overexert yourself. He said if I didn't tell you that, he'd give me a tail."

She laughed. "He knows I could just take it away if he did that . . . but he'd probably scold me for it, too," she said. "Anything else?"

"Yes, but it's from Mother and I more than anything. There's a good breakfast waiting for you at the table back near the counter. I haven't eaten yet either, so I thought I might join you, if you don't mind." Eylara thought this curious, but she had decided she liked Aiden and didn't mind his company at all. She followed him to the table, where Sorcha had set out two plates of a sort of egg hash with bread and a couple of mugs of milk.

As they ate, she could hear Aiden's thoughts very clearly, but he wouldn't talk. He was afraid that his words wouldn't come out right, which was strange, because what he wanted to talk about wasn't awkward. She watched him for a moment before starting a conversation herself. "Does your mother live here?"

He chuckled. "It seems that way sometimes, but no. She and Kell and Dad live in the house next door, though they might have to stay here until the roof is rebuilt. Thank the spirits it wasn't worse than that."

"Do you live with them?"

"I did until last month. That's why we know Kahlan; we all lived together when she passed through with her sister. Now I have my own place back by the north gate." He took a pull from his mug, and Eylara sensed that she had gotten him to a point where he would speak more readily. "What about you, Eylara Bardehaven? There hadn't been any word of a third person traveling with the Seeker until early this week. Who are you?"

"I'm . . . a long story," she answered. From what she could tell about him, her story probably wouldn't seem so hard to believe, but she really didn't have the time to tell him. "I'm just someone from very far away with power in me that I don't truly understand, and now I'm learning to call the Midlands my home as I help the Seeker on his quest. Although . . . I feel much less like I'm helping him right now and more like he and Kahlan and Zedd are helping me."

"What do you mean?"

Eylara sighed, running a hand over her hair. She didn't know what had compelled her to share that bit of information with him, but she didn't feel the need to stop. She could sense a deep trustworthiness in him. "They found me because of my magic. It's out of control, and the only thing keeping it in check right now is a spell the wizard put on me. It's making me sick. In fact, if we don't find what I need within the next few days, I'll die because of it." She was fully aware of the shocked stare Aiden was watching her with. "Of course, the three of them being the people they are, they decided to take a side trip to find a couple of magic artifacts that Zedd can use to cure me. They think the last one is in the caverns near here. I hope that's true, because I don't have a lot of time left, and Darken Rahl knows about me. He'll try to get to me before Zedd cures me, and if he figures out how to keep the magic from killing me himself, he'll try to use me for his own purposes."

She found she had lost her appetite. She knew Rahl was aware of her because of a dream she'd had the night before, most likely after the switch had occurred. Inconceivably, it was the wizard from Dorivan, Tolian, who had alerted Rahl to her presence. She would have to tell Zedd. He wouldn't be pleased to discover that his rival was still living.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Aiden asked quietly. She looked up at him, struck by the sincerity in his eyes. She realized she was almost in tears. "I know exactly where the entrance to the caverns is; maybe I can lead you there."

Eylara smiled. "I'll ask the others about it. Being able to go straight to the way in would speed things up a lot, so I'm sure they'd be glad of your help. And so would I." Aiden returned her smile and nodded.

* * *

After taking her leave of him and thanking Sorcha for the breakfast, Eylara went outside in search of her companions. They were all in the square or relatively nearby. Richard was helping with some heavy moving, while Zedd was tending to the wounded and Kahlan was helping a group of women and children reconstruct some of the market stalls that had been ripped apart. As soon as he noticed her, Zedd beckoned her to him. "Good morning," he greeted her, finishing his ministrations to a woman with an injured arm. Then, with a stern glance and a lower voice, he told her, "You'll need to be careful today, child. You're spread far too thin now, so you mustn't do anything too taxing physically or magically. In fact, you should try not to use your power at all."

Eylara nodded. "I thought you might say that. Of course, I can't stop myself from hearing others' thoughts or feeling their emotions without unblocking the power of Confession, so that'll be a slow drain." She pulled up her sleeve, showing Zedd the veining that had spread over her skin. "I look like a cracked piece of pottery or something, like I might break into a thousand pieces."

"That's not too far from the truth," said Zedd, his voice quavering slightly. "The good thing is, we're close to the caves, so we'll be off to get that last artifact before sundown."

Eylara nodded and looked around at the rebuilding village. Richard and Kahlan came to where they were, asking how she was doing. She told them, showing them what was happening to her skin and mentioning how careful she needed to be. "And now that you're all together, I have something I need to tell you," she added. "I know I'm supposed to avoid using magic altogether, but there are some things I'm doing that I'm not even thinking about. One happened last night, while I was asleep. I had a vision. Rahl knows about me." She looked at Zedd. "Tolian told him."

The wizard came quickly to his feet. "Impossible! I stopped his heart; I made certain of it!"

"There were Mord-Sith on the way to Dorivan from Fort Henatir." They could fill in the blanks after that for themselves. "They're on their way back now, with Tolian, and with his magic, they'll figure out where I am soon enough. It's good we're leaving, but we have to make sure they leave Cantorwick alone. Once they learn about the attack launched from the fort, they're bound to come here, especially when the battalions don't return." As they considered what might happen, Eylara had an idea. It seemed crazy, but it also seemed like the only way to defend the town and get to the quillion before she ran out of time. "Aiden knows the way to the entrance to the caverns. What if I went with him to get the quillion while you three stay and help Cantorwick?"

"We can't leave you to do that by yourself," said Richard. "If what Zedd says is true, you're not in any shape to take on that sort of thing. What if something happens with the magic while you're in the caves? Who'll help you?"

"Things are already happening with the magic that are beyond my control," she replied. "There's nothing I can really do about it now. If we don't find the quillion today - by the end of tomorrow at the latest - I'm done for anyway. I'll just have to be fast. But no matter what happens to me, Cantorwick shouldn't have to go through another attack just because I'm here. You help them live to fight another day against Rahl and the D'Harans, and I'll help myself for a change. The Creator willing, this can all be brought full circle by tomorrow."

Richard still tried to insist otherwise, but Eylara wouldn't be swayed. Finally, he relented, but she could still sense a deep concern coming from him. In fact, it came from Kahlan and Zedd as well. That it was for her struck somewhere deep in her heart, and the sudden realization that they had come to care about her so much - and she for them - made her eyes blur. "I hope you three have as much trust in me as I do in you," she managed quietly.

"Child, there's no question of it," said Zedd. Eylara smiled, trying very hard to keep her tears at bay, and ended up hugging all three of them with readily returned warmth. Kahlan gave her an extra cautioning, reminding her how important it was to keep her hold on the Confessor's power while Aiden was around. Eylara took it to heart, also bearing in mind the fact that he and his family were dear to the Mother Confessor. Zedd placed his hands on her shoulders. "Remember Eylara, do not use your magic unless you absolutely must. Let Aiden do any grunt work that's required, and be easy on yourself. Come back to us quickly." She had a sinking feeling that that would be easier said than done.

She returned to the inn. Aiden was waiting for her, and his appearance had changed once again. He wore heavy boots and a tough leather jerkin over a thick linen tunic along with hardened leather vambraces. Around his waist was a wide belt bearing a dagger, extra crossbow bolts and several pouches for who knew what else. A baldric crossed his chest, slinging his crossbow at his back. He looked like an entirely different man; if it hadn't been for his emerald eyes and roguish smile, no kindness at all would have shown through the new warrior's skin he'd grown. Eylara pushed aside the stun of admiration that had stopped her a few paces inside the doorway. "You look like you were anticipating going out there no matter what," she said.

"I had a feeling you'd talk them into it," he said. "When do we leave?"

"It's just me. We can leave as soon as we're ready."

Aiden's brow furrowed. "They're not coming with us?"

She shook her head and explained the situation to him. "The Mord-Sith will lose track of me more easily this way. You can leave once we reach the cavern entrance; Cantorwick will need you back as soon as you're able."

"No. I'm staying with you."

"Aiden, the town -"

"Is well-defended, thanks to Richard, Zedd and Kahlan. There are more than enough people there to fight, all in good shape now, and we're firmly on our feet after the work done this morning. They can spare me."

Eylara looked hard into his face. "Why are you insisting on this? You don't even know me."

Aiden shrugged. "I don't know. Why did you save Geoff and Nolan? Why do you travel with the Seeker?"

"Because it's right."

"And I think it's right to help you." Almost hesitantly, he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "It never hurts to have a friend watching your back, too."

She found herself unable to argue the matter further and simply smirked at him after a moment. "We'd better get moving then. Lead the way, my friend."

* * *

The cavern entrance was concealed within the dark folds of dense volcanic stone that was thickly overgrown with springy green moss and pale lichens. The sky had gone overcast, easing the burden of noontime light on their eyes as they rode through the rolling countryside. "Zedd told me there's a legend surrounding this place," Eylara mentioned as they dismounted near the outcrop. "Something about people going in there and coming out mad."

Aiden laughed and shook his head. "I don't think some magical warding or old warlock's ghost has anything to do with it. You don't go into the caverns unless you know where you're going. It's easy to get lost if you're just some half-wit tomb robber trying to get a quick fortune. People have gone missing in here for days. Going that long without water and food will make anyone crazy." They arrived at a gaping crevice between the folds of rock. Aiden lit a torch. "That's another reason why I wanted to stay with you. I know these caves like the back of my hand. You don't."

He offered her the torch. "I brought my own light," she said, holding up the Dagger with a smile. "After you."

Once they were inside, the space opened up enough to allow them to walk almost side by side. Eylara stayed behind him a step, listening intently to the dripping and crumbling sounds that echoed to them from unseen places as they descended. "How deep do these caves run?" she asked.

"We're almost to where everything evens out," Aiden replied. "Pretty soon we'll come to a place where three possible routes fork off. The one on the left leads to the mausoleum. The middle plows through the rock a way before it just dead-ends, and the one on the right leads into some bigger rooms with the most amazing rock formations I've ever seen." He gestured to each path as he spoke, letting his gaze linger off to the right. "They're nice for a visit, but since that's not why we're here, I'll have to show it to you some other time." He started up the rocks to the left. "I guess whatever you need will be this way."

"Hang on," she said. "There's something I can do to make sure we go the right way from the start. I'm not supposed to do this, but don't tell Zedd." Aiden made a motion to say his lips were sealed, and Eylara blinked herself into spellsight. However, after scanning the entire place, she couldn't see anything to indicate where the quillion was. She did see a strange glowing trail leading down the middle path, but before she could examine it more closely, she became dizzy and snapped herself out of the trance.

Aiden braced her behind the shoulders before she fell. "You okay?"

She caught her breath, fighting off a sick feeling that began to nag at her stomach. Once it had faded, she nodded. "I'll be fine. I was just trying to see where the quillion is, but I can't find it anywhere." She held the Dagger up and squinted into the darkness directly in front of her. "I did see something weird going down the middle route, though. Maybe we should take a look."

Aiden raised his eyebrows. "I guess we can, but like I said, it's a dead end. I don't know what we'll find, unless you picked up on some cave-dwelling thing's trail." He started forward. "Let's just hope it doesn't have sharp teeth."

They followed the middle path for about ten minutes, clambering over rock piles and small boulders and taking care not to cut themselves on the volcanic glass that was becoming more and more prevalent. Then, as they approached the place where Aiden had told her it would end, he stopped. "Something's wrong," he said, looking at the flame from his torch. It guttered and blew back toward him, and Eylara could feel a very light breeze coming from somewhere up ahead. "The air down here is usually dead." They went on several more paces until a ragged hole opened up in what had obviously once been a solid rock wall. "This is different."

Eylara ran a hand along the lower edge of the opening. "It's man made," she noted. "You said it shouldn't be here, so it can't be part of the tomb, right? It's too new." Aiden nodded in agreement. "I wonder who would have done this." She stuck her head out into the opening beyond and looked around for a moment. She saw something that made her heart beat just a little harder and chanced a very brief peek into spellsight. Still no quillion . . . but the familiar pale green outlines of men shimmered out at her from another cavern further on. "Get rid of the torch, Aiden. There're people further ahead. We need to see what's going on." Aiden tossed the torch down the path behind him while Eylara sheathed the Dagger and ducked through the hole.

There was some rock that had been hewn away from the passage beyond by hand, but it was mostly a natural tunnel. Faint firelight reflected off the stone ahead and to their right, and they crept toward it, staying quiet as muted voices and other sounds met their ears. Suddenly, Eylara stopped. She could hear them. The thoughts she perceived carried dark intentions: siege machines soon to be built, a town razed, a woman found . . .

She didn't need to go any further to know what waited around the bend, but she kept on so that Aiden could see. Staying in the depths of the shadows, they came to the point where the passage opened to a huge cave filled with the orange glow of torches and a small central fire. Barrels were being stacked, some providing a bit of cover for them as they watched D'Haran soldiers emerging from another rough-hewn passage, carrying in more barrels and crates. A few women in skin-tight reddish-brown leather walked among the soldiers with an air of cruel superiority. _Mord-Sith_. Eylara went cold as she realized what was happening.

"They're going to attack Cantorwick from the east," Eylara whispered, still watching. "They'll bring what they need through the caves, build some catapults, raze the town. Aiden, we have to get back and . . ." She froze when she came to face him. Aiden was on his knees, his hands behind his head, his jaw clenched and trembling with fear and pent-up defiance. Behind him, standing in a shoulder-width stance, one fist planted on her hip and an expression of twisted amusement on her face, was a Mord-Sith. In her other hand was a leather-wrapped baton that was about a hand and a half in length - an Agiel. She was holding the tip of it a scant inch from the base of his skull.

"Well, well. The wizard's plan worked," she said icily. "We've been looking for you, girl. Getting a rebel in the process is a nice bonus, and I'm sure where you came from, the Seeker is bound to be, too."

Eylara knew she wouldn't be able to use any sort of power against a Mord-Sith; they had the ability to turn magic back on its wielder. Instead, she kept it to herself. Desperately, she pulsed her speed, slipping around behind Aiden and forcing the woman's arm up and away from his head. She jammed her thumb hard into the Mord-Sith's wrist and pushed Aiden out of the way with her foot. He rolled to standing. "Run!" she yelled at him. "Tell them what's happening! Run!" Aiden bolted. The commotion brought the other guards and Mord-Sith into the passage, but Aiden disappeared into the shadows.

Eylara struggled to keep the Agiel away from her face, wrestling against the leather-clad woman as she tried to press her onto her knees. Sensing that she was losing her footing, Eylara turned into her with a brutal slam and backpedalled, forcing her back toward the wall of the passage while she continued to push the weapon away from her. Her other hand wriggled through the Mord-Sith's arm and went for the Dagger.

Suddenly, every muscle in her body paralyzed and froze. She felt the woman release her and move, then stop and watch her. Panicking, Eylara flicked her eyes forward. Out of the midst of the soldiers, his hand stretched out toward her in the invisible grip of a restraining spell, stepped Tolian. There was a smug smile on his face as he came within an arm's length. "Welcome, my dear," he said. "I've been expecting you."

He let her go. The moment her knees hit the floor, the Mord-Sith behind her stepped in and drove the Agiel down against her shoulder. The most incredibly excruciating pain ripped through her, sending her into full-body spasm as she screamed against it. Defenseless and too weak on all levels to endure the agony, she blacked out immediately.

* * * * *

Richard had been up on the southern rampart for nearly an hour, watching the sun wane behind the clouds. There were about two hours left until sundown, and still no sign of a coming attack. He ran his fingers through his hair. Something didn't feel right. He was sure Eylara's vision had been correct, and it only made sense that the D'Harans would continue trying to crush Cantorwick, especially if they thought he was there - or Eylara. But what if they had guessed wrong? What if the attack came some other way?

Kahlan joined him near the eastern end where the rampart turned the corner north. He told her his misgivings about the whole situation and said he thought they should go down to the caves to make sure nothing had happened to Eylara. "Nothing's coming," he said. "Not yet, anyway. We can spare half an hour to check on her."

Before Kahlan could say anything in reply, one of the watchmen gave a shout. "Rider from the east! One of ours!"

Richard and Kahlan hurried north along the rampart a short way to catch sight of the horseman. He was riding at a full gallop for the north gate, urgency and fear seeming to carry from him on the wind. "It's Aiden," Richard said, noticing the distinctive black hair and crossbow.

Kahlan felt a jolt of cold apprehension race up the back of her neck. "He's alone." She and Richard rushed down a nearby ladder toward the north gate. Zedd was already there as Aiden slid out of his saddle. He didn't have to run very far to find who he was looking for. "Where's Eylara?" Kahlan questioned, taking hold of his arm as he doubled over, trying to catch his breath.

"The Mord-Sith," he gasped, looking up at her. "They've got her. They're in the caverns . . . and soldiers . . . like they're setting up camp in there or something . . . they'll come from the east, out of the caves . . . trying to surprise us . . ." Zedd put a hand on his back, subtly coaxing his breathing to normal with a touch of magic. Aiden straightened, sweating profusely from running and riding. "They've been cutting new passages, bringing in parts for siege machines. They've got to be coming from the fort. That must be where they've taken her." Lanick and Ergan came to see what was going on.

"Show us the way," said Richard.

Aiden shook his head. "We can't go back to the caves. They had me before Eylara got me loose, so they know I got out; they'll be expecting something."

"Going straight to the fort won't do us much good either," Kahlan put in. "It's too well defended."

"It might be less guarded if some of them are committed to getting supplies to the caverns," Richard suggested.

"I don't know about that," Lanick said. "Fort Henatir is one of their bigger garrisons. They look armed to the teeth even on light days."

"I remember one of the Mord-Sith saying something about 'the wizard's plan'," Aiden told them. "What would that have meant?"

"They have a Wizard of the Second Order named Tolian with them," Zedd replied. "That explains why the Mord-Sith were in the caverns. He would have sensed Eylara's need for the quillion and guessed that she would come there looking for it. He had the Mord-Sith lay in wait for her. " He thought for a moment, then asked, "How many Mord-Sith did you see in the caves, Aiden?"

"About eight," he replied. "I thought they might have been overseeing what the soldiers were doing."

The wizard rubbed his chin. "The Mord-Sith don't trouble themselves with military labor; they're Rahl's personal guards and assassins. Once they had Eylara, they would have gone back to the fort and left the soldiers behind."

"That takes care of one issue then," said Richard. "We _can_ go through the caves. Handling the soldiers won't be too much of a problem if the Mord-Sith aren't around."

"May I make a suggestion?" asked Lanick. Richard nodded for him to continue. "If the D'Harans cut a passage to the caverns, the entrance would have to be on the north side of the fort, since it's south of the caves. The barracks are on the north side. The prison is near the front gate. I can take a dozen of my best men and stage an attack to draw some guards from the barracks so you don't come out right in the thick of them. They'll laugh at our numbers, but we'll be a nuisance, so they'll have their attention on getting rid of us."

"Lanick, that's suicide!" said Kahlan. "You said yourself that it's heavily armed; how would you and your men survive?"

"We won't attack them directly," the rebel replied. "The men I'm thinking of are my fastest horsemen and some of my best mounted archers. We wouldn't stand and fight; we'd run circles around them, draw them out. We can disappear if we need to, but between you three coming up from the caverns and us annoying them like flies, they won't be able to fight their best."

Richard heaved a silent sigh. "It seems like the best plan we've got so far," he said.

"I think I may be able to help out with a little illusion I've used before," said Zedd. "I can add some ghosts among the living, including the Seeker and his companions."

Lanick smiled. "If you can do that, Wizard, I'd suggest sending them as a line in front of us. The D'Harans have sections of the road in front of the fort rigged with dragon's breath that they can set off if we ever attack from the south. Ghosts don't show up in the body counts. If we can trigger the explosions, that'll be an added distraction."

"I'll get to work," Zedd said, turning to the south gate. "It'll take me about half an hour to double your numbers, but you'd better assemble your men quickly. I need them for reference." He motioned to Richard and Kahlan. "That also goes for you two. Don't go anywhere until I'm finished."

Lanick strode out through the town, calling his men to him, while Richard, Kahlan and Zedd followed close behind. The Seeker looked up at the overcast sun. The day wouldn't last much longer. Neither, he knew, would Eylara.


	10. Chapter 10: Unbound

**10 - ****Unbound**

She was staring at a floor of dressed grey stone, her eyes seeming to take forever to focus as her lids drifted open. Torchlight flickered from various points around her, casting a dim orange glow over the place. She felt sickly cold, but the magic in her was searing, coursing through insubstantial veins like boiling quicksilver. As far as she could tell, she was still in Additive, but she hadn't the strength of being to control any aspect of it anymore. The Confessor's power was there, unrestrained. If she tried to throw up a wall against it, she almost faded out again.

Abruptly, she remembered what had happened in the caves. She tried to move, but her arms were manacled to a wall behind her, stretched out above her head. Her ankles were shackled to the floor. She looked around. Directly in front of her, the horizontal slit of a barred window gave a dark, narrow view of a dirt road beyond a spiked log fence. To her left stood a woman in blood red leather, which was different from what she had seen in the cavern. Mord-Sith only wore purely red leather when they were training someone. There were three other Mord-Sith surrounding her from left to right. Beyond them, also to her right, was a table bearing some unrecognizable alchemy implements. Among them, Eylara recognized the Dagger of Dawn and her travel coat. The woman closest to the table turned her head and spoke. "Wizard, she's awake."

Tolian appeared from around a corner, adjusting the sleeves of his white and tan robes as he walked up to her. "Hello, Eylara," he said with a self-satisfied smirk. "I'm glad you could finally join us. Lord Rahl will be most pleased to finally meet the source of his suspicions."

Eylara glared. "For your sake, I hope he's already on his way here. I'll be dead within the next day."

"That depends on you," said the wizard. "If you don't use any of that extraordinary power you're keeping bottled up inside you, you can actually live for two more days, which will be more than enough time for Lord Rahl to get here. And he knows how to save you. Oh yes, he can help you . . . provided you agree to use your talents in service to his dream of peace."

"'Dream of peace?' I've seen enough of what his minions do in my short time here to know he's got anything but peace in store apart from total domination of every single heart and mind in the Three Lands. I won't be a puppet to that sadistic demon's spawn!"

The Mord-Sith closest at hand on her left struck out with her Agiel, catching Eylara in the side with the tip of it. The girl seized and strained against her chains as the pain immobilized her, clenching her jaw shut. Tolian called the woman off after no more than a few seconds, and Eylara sagged toward the ground, her every subsequent breath coming as a harsh, tormented gasp. "Now, now," said Tolian in a saccharine tone, kneeling and looking up into her face, "you shouldn't say such things about the man who's going to keep you alive."

"I'll die before I help him," she growled through clenched teeth, struggling to regain her footing.

"That's up to you, of course," he said with a shrug. "But I don't think you'll let it come to that, Eylara Bardehaven. I think your desire to live far outweighs your commitment to sacrifice yourself. You think yourself of such value to the Seeker and his cause that you'll do anything to keep yourself alive. You still believe there's a chance you could be saved by him and his companions. Such selfishness is common to all people, I suppose. It's a shame you would waste your power and desires on something so hopeless."

Eylara surged toward him against her manacles with a savage growl that she hadn't known herself to be capable of. With the magic so out of control in her, all she had to do was let it loose, and she could prove that she would sacrifice herself gladly to help Richard save the world from Rahl. She thought of sending fire from her eyes, much like Zedd's Wizard's Fire . . . but something was acting like a wall between her and her intent. Tolian smiled, sensing what she had tried to do, and tsked condescendingly at her. "You mustn't exert yourself like that, child," he said, putting a finger to her neck. He tapped against a wide metal collar that had been clasped around her throat. She hadn't noticed it before. "The Rada'Han keeps you from exercising those incredible powers of yours. It simply won't work."

Eylara seethed, concentrating on the Rada'Han. _It's just a metal ring_, she told herself. In spite of the barrier it threw up between her magic and her will, she could sense that it had limits. If only . . .

She wasn't allowed to finish her thought. The agony of a switch lanced through her head, and she let out a wailing scream. It was more unbearable than any before, but for some reason, she couldn't become unconscious. She could only suffer through it. Tolian and the Mord-Sith simply watched as she writhed in her chains, uncertain of what was happening. Five minutes later, bodily exhausted, Eylara was still, her eyes half shut as she hung in her manacles and stared numbly at the floor. "Are you through with your dramatics now?" she heard Tolian say. "Much more of that and your wrists will break in those irons. Stand up, won't you?"

Eylara didn't move. She was assessing her Subtractive abilities, which felt like they might actually work through the Rada'Han. It had been designed with the more prevalent Additive capabilities of most individuals in mind. She wondered . . . "Child, I'd rather not have one of these women use their weapons on you, so please, do as I say. Stand up." Although she opened her eyes wider and glared up at him, she remained as she was.

The Mord-Sith in front of her thrust her Agiel into Eylara's stomach. She cried out at the initial onslaught of pain, but dug into the Subtractive magic she was newly filled with and held fast. Pushing rather easily through the blocks of the Rada'Han, she found the fingers of agony that held her through the Agiel and broke them, turning them back on themselves. The pain recoiled and doubled back to its source. Mord-Sith also felt pain when they handled the Agiel, but they were trained to be accustomed to it. However, what Eylara was doing increased the intensity of the pain as it was re-directed. Amplified, it shot back through the leather-bound weapon, through the hand of the Mord-Sith that wielded it. The woman's haughty, stoic features suddenly contorted horribly, and she screamed, staggering back against the wall as she dropped her Agiel and clutched at her arm.

Slowly, Eylara rose. Her knees wobbled and her heart pounded from the expenditure of magic, but she didn't care. She would rather fight to the death that night against Rahl's forces than live a few more days to be used by him. She met Tolian's startled eyes. "Your Rada'Han doesn't handle the power of Subtractive Magic very well, Wizard Tolian," she said evenly. She looked around at the unnerved faces of the Mord-Sith. "I can do as you do now. I suggest you keep a healthy distance from me."

Tolian paced around her calculatingly. "When I first read you at Dorivan, none of this was present. I've clearly misjudged you. You're far more powerful than I suspected."

"I'm unbound to either side of magic. Maybe you could've seen that if you were a better wizard."

Tolian struck her hard across the jaw with his fist. She kept her outcry in her mouth, but tasted blood. "You aren't fast enough to counter a punch, girl. Curb your tongue, and perhaps we can go back to being reasonable."

She wanted to see just how far she could provoke the wizard. The Subtractive Magic was feeding off the anger and pain she was feeling. The power to destroy her bonds was rising in her, but it wasn't strong enough. Every time her anger spiked, she felt it grow a little bit stronger, much like the pulsing she could use in the Additive. If she could get him to enrage her further, perhaps it would trigger a new ability for her to use. "You think I'm not fast enough? Let me off these chains and I'll show you fast."

"I would call your bluff, my dear," Tolian sneered, "but you and I both know you're not physically capable of handling such antics. Do be quiet and think over your situation."

He was right about that much. Even the act of turning the magic of the Agiel back on itself had been an immense drain of strength. She looked up at her bound hands. The blue veining traced dark iridescence over her pallid skin, disappearing beneath the fabric of her clothing. She must look absolutely ill. She certainly felt it. Even breathing was starting to be a true effort, no matter how calm she was able to make it sound at present.

There was the sound of footsteps on unseen stairs, and a soldier appeared. "Wizard Tolian," he said, "there are reports of a contingent of rebels approaching the fort from the south. We've been ordered to transfer this prisoner to the holding cell in the barracks until they're dealt with. She's far too valuable to Lord Rahl to risk a breach of the prison, however unlikely that may be."

"She's also too dangerous to move," said the wizard, stopping in front of her and looking dead into her eyes. "And since she's so powerful, I'm sure she can save herself. Even with the Rada'Han around her neck." Eylara wasn't so sure about that, but she made no indication that she was doubtful. Tolian looked at the guard. "Tell your Captain that we won't be going anywhere, soldier. In fact, we'll be staying right here with her. We have such a lovely view of the road. It'll be the perfect spot to watch the Seeker and his rebel allies be blasted to ashes, don't you agree?"

Eylara felt her blood go cold as the soldier turned and left. What did the wizard mean? What terrible weapon did they have that was capable of doing such a thing?

_Did they know?_

* * * * *

Richard, Zedd, Kahlan and Aiden reined in their horses at the edge of the dark rock formations marking the cavern entrance and dismounted. The Seeker looked out across the dark landscape and watched the procession of rebel fighters advancing along the road to Fort Henatir. There were two rows of them. One consisted of the real men - twelve of them, led by Lanick. The other row was made up of the illusions Zedd had created. They were all visual clones of the men, mixed so that they wouldn't be obvious. Zedd had also created ghosts of Richard and Kahlan, which rode at the head of the files. Finally, he had doubled himself. His ghost rode behind those of his companions. "That's just creepy," Richard muttered, squinting to see his false self on a false horse beside the white-clad form of Kahlan's double. It was hard to believe they were just air and magic.

"But a better trigger for those traps than your own foolhardy hide, don't you think?" said Zedd, touch-lighting a torch. "Let's stop admiring ourselves and get on with it." Aiden, his face wrought in hard lines of determination, beckoned them forward and led them into the dark caves.

A quad of guards had been posted at the intersection of the three paths. They were easily dealt with, and when they came to the end of the middle route and crossed through the hole in the wall, they found themselves among stacks of timber and barrels of dragon's breath. Aiden said that there was much more in the cave than there had been earlier. "Is the quillion here?" Richard asked.

Zedd took a quick look around in spellsight and shook his head. "I'd say it's long gone. Some tomb robber that managed not to get lost or warded off probably found it. That, or Tolian may have gotten his hands on it and taken it to the fort." The wizard heaved a sigh. "If that's the case, he'll use it to tempt Eylara into giving herself over to Rahl. At least, he'll try. If he truly doesn't comprehend the magnitude of her magic, the quillion will end up destroyed, overloaded by her power and shattered."

They counted ten soldiers at work in the cave, with a few coming and going from another tunnel across the way. "I'll Confess one of them," whispered Kahlan. "He might be able to tell us where Eylara is and how many soldiers are at the fort tonight." She pulled her daggers and looked pointedly at Richard. "Just remember to leave one, alright?" He gave her a look that told her he'd try and drew the Sword of Truth.

Zedd couldn't use Wizard's Fire with so much dragon's breath around, but he was able to repulse when he had to. He was also a fair fighter with his staff, but he and Aiden stayed back most of the time, allowing Richard and Kahlan to fight closer in, which they did best. Aiden took shots when he could and felled two soldiers. Most of the men were quite young and probably very new to their posts, but they fought no less fiercely than the more experienced soldiers. All except one. Panicked, one soldier ran to the back of the room and wrenched a torch from the wall. At the same instant that Richard took care of the last man, the soldier ran up to a stack of dragon's breath barrels and held the torch over it. "Stop!" he yelled. "Put down your weapons, or I'll drop the torch!"

"Do you really think that's wise, boy?" Zedd asked him, coming up behind Kahlan and Richard. "You'll bring the whole cave down if you do that, on top of us and yourself. That'll make the job your fellow soldiers are trying to do worth absolutely nothing, won't it?"

The young guard shifted nervously on his feet, breathing hard as he tried to think of something to say in return. "It'll be worth it if I take all of you with me. But it'll be even better for me if you surrender and I drag you all back to the fort. I'm sure you'd rather stay alive than be buried here, and you're all worth more that way anyway."

As the guard spoke his last few words, Zedd gave an inconspicuous waggle of his fingers, and the torch extinguished. Before he could take more than a few seconds to stare in bewilderment at his extinguished light source, Kahlan was in close with her hand on his throat. The air shook with ominous silence as the man's will dissolved and fell to her. Richard stepped in with a steadying hand as she wavered, but she recovered quickly. The guard stared fixedly at her, anticipation of a word from his mistress written across every inch of his face. "What is your name?" she asked him.

"Guardsman Marc Brommen, Confessor."

"Marc, there's a very powerful woman being held at the fort," Kahlan said to him. "Do you know where she is?"

He nodded eagerly. "The wizard and the Mord-Sith took her to the lower cell in the prison near the south gate."

"Why were the Mord-Sith sent for her? Why not the regular soldiers?"

"Lord Rahl is coming for her personally. He sent the Mord-Sith ahead to make sure she was handled . . . properly."

"How many men are stationed at the fort, Marc?" asked Richard.

"Normally sixty," replied the guard. "Twenty more were sent to help transport these supplies. Of course, there are only seventy-one left now."

"Are any out on patrol?"

Again, Marc nodded. "Captain Vosin's battalion is patrolling the East Grasslands. They're twenty strong. They should be back in the morning."

Kahlan raised her eyebrows. "Fifty left? That's a bit better than we'd hoped for."

"But don't forget eight Mord-Sith and a wizard," Aiden added. "They may be guarding Eylara, but not all of them need to be in the prison to do that."

Kahlan nodded and looked back at the guard. "Where does this tunnel come from?"

"The entry is next to the supply dock on the west side of the barracks," Marc replied. "It's normally covered with a log grate, but it should be open right now, since . . ." There was a click from somewhere inside the tunnel. Every head turned to find a crossbow aimed at the Mother Confessor. The trigger was pulled. "_NO_!" The Confessed guard shoved Kahlan out of the way, catching the bolt squarely through the neck. It killed him almost instantly.

An arrow from Aiden's crossbow answered the one from the D'Haran soldier in the tunnel, bringing the archer down. Three others emerged from the darkness with swords drawn, and a short fight ensued. Fort Henatir was soon minus four more guards. "We'd better hurry before they decide to close the entry," said Richard. "Aiden, do you know what's between the barracks and the prison?"

"The armory, the target range, the main yard, probably the assembly point," he answered. "A lot of open space. It'll be safer to stay in the shadows around the edges as much as we can."

"We should find a good waiting point as soon as we get up there," said Zedd. "There'll be no use going after Eylara until the men outside the gates make their move and the traps are blown."

They agreed and slipped into the tunnel, hoping not to run into any more soldiers coming down with supplies. It never became an issue, and when they made it to the ground level entry point and peered over the edge to survey the area, they could see why. The rebels had arrived. A dozen archers lined the battlements of the log-walled fort. A phalanx of foot soldiers sixteen strong was forming up before the gates. The remaining guards were stationed at various points along the walls. Two were near the supply dock. Three archers were in a position to cover the tunnel entry. Fortunately, the four infiltrators were in a deep shadow cast by the barracks. Richard whispered for them to fall back a few paces, listen and wait. In the silence, they could hear the unintelligible dialogue taking place between Lanick and the commander of the fort across the wall.

Five minutes later, a blinding and deafening explosion rocked the fort to its foundations, sending soil and stone and fire high into the air from the road beyond the gate. As the debris rained back down, they emerged from the tunnel. Hooves thundered around the outer walls. The distraction had begun.

* * * * *

Eylara tried not to betray her anxiety for Richard and the others as she strained for a better view out the slit window. Tolian watched her with amusement while she pretended she wasn't noticing. The lines of mounted rebels were just becoming visible. "This can all be avoided, you know." She snapped her eyes to the wizard's. She knew better than to think he was being truthful, but her concern for their safety was beginning to outweigh her reason and resolve to fight. "All you have to do is agree to wait peacefully for Lord Rahl. In return, I'll release you from the chains and the Rada'Han, and you'll use your mental abilities to persuade them to turn back. Fort Henatir will deal with them soon enough. They'd rather be concerning themselves with preparations for our Lord's arrival."

"I would never use that sort of power against them," she said with even resolve. "You'll get no cooperation from me."

Tolian shrugged and turned away from her, wandering nonchalantly to the table bearing his tools. "I have the quillion artifact you're looking for right here," he said, laying his hand on a dark wooden box. "In fact, I can use it to take a little bit of your excess magic right now, just to give you a taste of the relief you'll feel when the power is finally under control." He opened the box, revealing a purplish glowing crystal lying in the folds of thick black velveteen lining. "Perhaps you might reconsider upon experiencing such a thing."

She considered what he was saying. If it were the truth, why wouldn't Zedd have told her that one crystal could have given her some respite from what she was enduring? She could see the riders forming themselves into two rows across the road. Richard, Kahlan and Zedd were in the middle of the front row. Lanick, who sat in the center of the rear rank, began shouting something to the soldiers on the rampart. She couldn't make out what was being said, and couldn't do anything to warn them about whatever weapon was waiting to be unleashed upon them. She swallowed against the outraged lump that was rising in her throat. "Do what you will, Wizard," she spat. "I _will_ die before Rahl arrives. I'll will myself to do it. You can't stop me."

Tolian took the quillion and strode up to her with it, shoving it hard against the side of her head. Magic began to bleed from her, falling from her like a lead weight. "This will prevent you for a time," he hissed beside her ear. "There will be a little less for you to use in your martyrdom. It should sustain you just enough for Lord Rahl to arrive in time to keep you."

Suddenly, she felt the magic the crystal had absorbed turn into heat against her skin, and it began to pulse a high-pitched hum. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," she countered, feeling the flow of power cease. The crystal had only been at work for a minute or so, but it was full, even overfilled. Tolian jerked the bright stone away from her as it vibrated and cracked, becoming so full of heat that he had to drop it. It continued to glow brighter as it came to rest in the middle of the floor. With a flash, it exploded into a thousand different pieces. Eylara shut her eyes against it and turned her face away as hot crystal shards showered her. The magic blew back into her like a gust of wind. She laughed ironically. "Zedd knew! If you had any idea of what power is in me, you would have guessed I'd overload one crystal."

Tolian growled and moved as though he might strike her again, but he caught himself, turning his head to the cell entry as he appeared to hear or sense something. He brought his hand down and chuckled. "So die you shall," he scathed. Then he reached up and grabbed a fistful of her hair. She yelped as he gave her head a sharp jerk backward. "But first, watch with me, and know that those who saved you and have worked so hard to help you live will now precede you to the Underworld, all for your selfish pursuits." He forced her head back down to the level of the slit window.

She felt what was coming before it actually happened. The moment the buried charges ignited, she wrenched her face away from the window and squeezed her eyes shut. The explosion roared through the night. Heat washed through the window, and the air and earth around her quaked violently. Tolian lost his grip on her hair as the blast knocked him off his feet, and she was blown back against the wall as the chains binding her ankles strained.

When it was over, she looked back to the road. She thought her heart would freeze solid. Sickness gripped her stomach when she saw men on the ground along with their mounts. Richard, Kahlan and Zedd were nowhere to be seen. There was a gaping crater in the road precisely where they would have been standing. They, along with the riders to either side of them and directly behind, could never have survived. "No . . ." Her mouth had become as dry as a desert in summer. They were gone.

What had she done? She should have left the caverns with Aiden once they had seen the D'Harans. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her, and now the only hope for freedom from Darken Rahl's tyranny, the Seeker, had been lost. She wished they'd never found her. She wished she'd read more, choosing to come along after Rahl's defeat. What if she'd never decided to come to this world? At least it would have had a chance. Richard had been right. Her being there _had_ altered the outcome of things. She had to act. She had to do something to atone for his loss . . . and Kahlan's and Zedd's.

Tolian suddenly appeared in front her, holding the Dagger of Dawn with a darkly triumphant smile on his face. "And to think you possessed what could have saved you all this time," he said. "Now, I'll use it to end your suffering."

One of the Mord-Sith grabbed his arm. "Lord Rahl wants her alive," she said, her voice a clear warning. They respected wizards under Rahl's service for their power, but when it came to something that they knew was a direct violation of their Master's wishes, they would heed no one.

As Tolian began a calm but forceful argument with the Mord-Sith, Eylara's rage at him, and what had happened, built to a boiling point. Her mind raced with what she might try to do before Tolian turned back to her. He had every intention of killing her if he could get past the Mord-Sith. However, she stopped when she felt something in the Subtractive Magic change. It was building inside of her, spurning the restraint of the Rada'Han completely. She tried to hold on to it, calm it . . . but it wouldn't be quelled. It found her anger and hatred and desire for vengeance and latched on, growing with the purchase it had discovered. Her eyes screwed shut as an incomprehensible sea engulfed her. She had no control over it. Those darker emotions were at the very front of her mind and intent now, and it promised to help her act on those things. The magic poured through her, heart, body and mind, igniting enmity within her blood.

She had invoked the Con Dar. It had been completely out of her hands . . . but not beyond her desires. She might not have stopped it if she could have.

Her body convulsed with the power, shaking as her strength and focus shifted to something entirely different. She knew that going through this would kill her; it was too much for her entire being to cope with in such a weakened state, but it didn't matter now. She would avenge Richard, Kahlan and Zedd for as long as she could. Then she would pass from the world she had altered so negatively.

Tolian and the Mord-Sith were struck dumb by what was happening. Light seemed to gravitate toward her, wrapping itself in a vortex around her while darkness became tangibly thick in every corner of the cell. The power took the pain that was wracking her body because of her weakness and threw it outward until _they_ could feel it and know what she was enduring. Blue lightning sparked around her chains, her hands and closed eyes - a testament to the magnitude of the magic at work. The steel restraints around her wrists blew apart. Four soldiers ran into the cell to see what was going on. They also froze in disbelief at the sight, drawing their swords. The power reached its peak, and it was agony to her, agony she screamed against with every ounce of air in her lungs and every fiber of her being as she threw her hands skyward, casting away the light. It snapped back into place in the cell, killing the darkness. It was done. She was fully in the thrall of the Blood Rage.

Her eyes snapped open. The world was sharp and clear, writ in blood, drawn in rage. Vengeance was her only goal. She looked at the wizard and the group behind him, and before any of them could move, she thrust out her hand. Silent thunder passed between her and all of them, and the darkening of eyes that marked Confession covered them. Five minds became hers. Since the touch of a Confessor was death for a Mord-Sith, the four women instantly crumpled to the floor. She stared unblinking at Tolian and beckoned him closer. "What do you desire, mistress?" he asked in little more than a whisper once he had come within arm's length.

Her voice came as cold as winter wind and sharp as obsidian. "Release me from the rest of these chains." Tolian went to where the items on the table had been knocked to the floor and searched among the implements and stone dust until he found a key. He unlocked the shackles that held her ankles and stood up. "Remove the Rada'Han from me," she told him. From a chain around his neck, Tolian pulled a small key and used it to take the metal ring from her throat. "Destroy the key." Tolian placed the key in his palm and summoned a plume of Wizard's Fire. The thing was incinerated in a matter of seconds. "Now put the Rada'Han around your own neck. You will never use magic again." Keeping his gaze on her all the while, Tolian did as he was told. He was powerless.

After this, Eylara turned her attention to the soldiers. "Go outside and get the nearest guards. Tell them there is a problem here. Bring them to me." They turned and left the prison. Within three minutes, they returned, followed by six more guards with swords in hand. Eylara did the same to them as she had with the others. "Now," she commanded, "go up to the ramparts. Kill the archers that are there. When you have finished with them, kill any other soldiers you can. Do not stop for any reason until there are no more soldiers left to fight. If you do not, I will be greatly displeased. Go."

She waited until the soldiers left before making another move. She saw the Dagger of Dawn on the ground near the upended table and moved to pick it up. However, when she touched it, it sent such a terrible shock through her that she jerked away from it. It hurt somewhere in her heart, it had been so strong. Through the rage, it puzzled her, but she quickly forgot it. "Is there anything more I might do to please you, mistress?" Tolian questioned from behind.

"Yes." She turned to face him. "Open the gates to the fort. Leave here and hide in the shadows, and don't try to open it until you're sure the time is right."

"I will do my best, mistress." The wizard hurried out into the battle-torn night.

Eylara waited a full two minutes before leaving the prison herself, sword in hand.

* * * * *

The four watched as the archers above them loaded bolts into their crossbows and aimed over the walls, trying to hit any of the riders that circled the fort. Aiden wanted badly to put a bolt of his own in one of the turned backs, but Richard told him to wait. They had to move while they had the opportunity. Quickly, they left the tunnel and made for the deep shadows between the fort wall and the barracks. From that position, Aiden could get off at least two shots before they were noticed. Richard peered cautiously around the corner and marked the soldiers that were nearest to them. The back of the fort was not as heavily manned, and the squad of sixteen was getting ready to head out the gates. Richard signaled Aiden, who took down an archer each near the northeast and northwest corners before others began to notice. The rebel stopped shooting, watching tensely as they looked for their attacker. They weren't succeeding.

All of a sudden, more soldiers appeared with the archers on the ramparts. They watched, astounded, as the newcomers attacked their own peers. Once the archers further back realized what was going on, they began shooting. It was too late. The soldiers ran their comrades down, losing three of their number in the process before descending to the yard below and confronting the ground troops.

"What's all this?" Aiden asked, bewildered. "They can't be spies, at least not from Cantorwick!"

"Sympathizers, maybe?" Richard wondered.

"Ten of them in one fort?" said Kahlan. "That isn't very likely."

A guard was thrown back against the wall right beside the corner Richard had looked around. He saw them and immediately gave a shout. "It's the Seeker! Inside the walls! He's here!" One of the apparent turncoat guards slammed into him and grappled him out of sight. Another swordsman appeared in his place, this time unhindered. Richard drew the Sword and deflected the lunge that had been aimed at him before bursting from their hiding spot and fighting in earnest. Kahlan, Zedd and Aiden followed.

The men that had been formed up to exit the gates were in disarray as they dealt with their new assailants. As the others fought, Zedd searched about with spellsight, trying to find where Tolian might be. Oddly, he couldn't find him, although there was figure of a regular person in the prison. Eylara was easily visible, a veritable pillar of changing energies in the middle of the lowest level. He was interrupted by an attacking guard, which he blasted away from him with a repulsing thrust of his hand.

Many of the apparent allies among the guards had been cut down, but not before taking several of their comrades with them. The fighting remained heavy, so much so that Kahlan wasn't being handed a chance to exercise her powers to any advantage. Some of the soldiers that hadn't been in formation had reached the ramparts and were loading crossbows. Aiden turned his attention to them.

Suddenly, Eylara appeared in the doorway of the prison. She carried a D'Haran short sword, which she was forced to put to use immediately upon stepping over the threshold. Zedd watched her. There was something about the way she was moving and behaving that was very odd to him. Her stance remained mostly straight, somewhere between offensive and defensive. She blocked the attacks of the two guards that had been stationed outside the prison easily and efficiently, and the single blows she dealt each of them were final. Her face a mask of dark determination, she descended the steps to the yard.

Comprehension of what had happened to her caused ice to race up his spine. Aiden had just finished taking care of the replacement archers and was about to rush back in when Zedd grabbed him. "Don't fight," the wizard told him. "Go in there, get Richard and Kahlan and pull them back out here, now!" Not daring to question, Aiden barreled into the fight, defending himself as needed. He reached Kahlan first, and they both got to Richard. Six soldiers tailed them as they parted from the main melee. Zedd kept an eye on Eylara, watching as four soldiers turned their attention to her. She threw her hand out toward them. They stopped in their tracks, turned, and attacked those who had once been their fellows.

"Zedd, what are we doing?" shouted Richard as he fought off one of the men that had followed them out.

The wizard threw fire at two soldiers that approached him. "You'll see soon enough," he replied. "Just don't go back out there."

When the six guards had been finished off, they turned to watch the remnants of the battle. They saw Eylara, the deadly precision of her combat, the newly turned men fighting. "She's in the Con Dar," Kahlan breathed. Richard paled a bit, realizing why Zedd had called them away from the battle.

At that moment, the gates burst open, and eight rebel horsemen thundered into the yard. All they saw were a dozen D'Harans fighting each other, with Eylara in the midst. Aiden sprinted forward, waving his arms. "Lanick!" he yelled. "Stay back! Over here! Come over here!" Lanick heard him and got his men to comply, but not before they had taken down four soldiers. The horsemen came to a halt beside the four, breathing hard and covered in sweat and dirt. Together, they watched as the remaining D'Harans killed each other off. In the end, two remained standing. They didn't attack Eylara. Instead, they put away their weapons and stood near her, waiting. Tolian appeared from a hiding spot near the gate and hurried over to her as well.

She stood motionless in the midst of the fallen, her features set in stone. Zedd took a slow, deep breath and turned to the now dismounted rebels. "Stay here," he instructed them. Then he looked to Richard and Kahlan. "Come with me. We can't get very close, but maybe close enough for her to see us through what has her." Aiden started to go with them, and when Zedd tried to prevent him, he insisted.

"I'm partly responsible for her being captured," he said. "Let me come. Please." Zedd sighed and relented.

"She won't live long once she's out of it," said the wizard as they walked across the yard. "She's most likely just as out of control as she was when we found her. You'll need to keep in contact with me so that you won't be affected by her magic." Richard and Kahlan each took one of his arms, while Aiden held on to his shoulder.

They stopped several paces away. Eylara seemed to stare through them. She was frightening to look at. Her eyes were jet black diamonds set in claret glass, rimmed thickly in red, wide and sunken. Her skin was almost paper-white, latticed with the ice blue fractures that marked the overwhelming influence of magic unraveling her body. The rise and fall of her shoulders as she breathed was barely noticeable. Richard ventured words first. "Eylara? It's us." Her vision seemed to flicker for an instant. He tried again. "Eylara, we're here, see? It's me, Richard. Zedd's here, too, and so is Kahlan, and Aiden. It's all right now." Finally, her eyes found him. The rest of her didn't move.

Kahlan moved her hand to Zedd's fingers so that she could step toward the girl. "Eylara . . ." Her head snapped over to look at the Confessor. "Eylara, it's over now. We're here. Come back to us. Please . . ."

Eylara pulled in a labored breath, and she blinked, her knees trembling. Zedd and Aiden both called to her, and finally the rage released her. She went limp, hitting the ground before Zedd could get them all near to her. As they moved her so that she was stretched out on her back, Zedd placed a hand on her forehead and was surprised at what he found. Rather than raging out of control, the magic in her had blown itself into such ambiguity that it was no longer defined. What was left of her being was sustaining her body, not the power she was holding. "It's alright, you can let go," he told them. "The magic is foundationless now; it can't hurt you."

Her body was barely holding itself together. Blood was slowly seeping from her ears, her nose, a corner of her mouth, the edges of her fingernails. Her eyes still looked as they did while she was in the Con Dar, except the irises had turned dark purple - the blue of them masked with blood. She looked at Zedd and managed a weak smile. "You're alive," she whispered. "All of you. I thought . . . I thought the explosion had killed you." There were tears at the edges of the wizard's eyes. Looking at the others, she saw the same thing in Kahlan and Richard. Aiden's jaw was clenched, the muscles in it working as he tried to bury whatever he was feeling.

Tolian and the two soldiers were kneeling beside her as well, and the Confessed wizard had tears streaming down his face. "Mistress, isn't there anything I can do to help you?" he croaked.

"Where's the quillion you took from the caves, Tolian?" Zedd demanded. The other wizard explained what had happened. Zedd shut his eyes at the painful revelation. "Aiden," he said quietly, "ride out and bring back my horse. As fast as you can. Go!"

"I thought two crystals couldn't do anything for her," said Kahlan as Aiden dashed away.

"They can't," said Zedd. "I'm just hoping there's some chance the spirits may take pity and prove me wrong."

Eylara moaned weakly as an indefinable inner pain wracked her for a moment. She coughed against it, and the blood coming from her mouth bubbled. Reddish tears squeezed from the corners of her eyes. "Thank you for trying, Zedd," she whispered hoarsely, "but I think it might be too little too late. I can't have much more than a quarter of an hour left, if that."

"Child, nothing is impossible . . ."

Eylara gripped his arm. "Listen to me, Zedd." She had started crying, but was working hard to breath normally enough to speak. "I need you to know . . . Apart from my parents, while they were in my life, I have never known anyone so willing to take me under their wing and teach me how to deal with things . . . In the past few days, you've been so much like them . . . a mentor, a teacher . . . a friend . . ." She had a feeling that Zedd hardly ever came close to tears over anything. To see him that way now, as he clasped her hand in his, was heart wrenching.

She looked at the Seeker and held out her hand to him. He took it, covering it with his own. "Richard, you remind me of my brother so much it's not even funny." She chuckled, as did Richard, but it hurt her to do it. She steadied her breathing again and went on. "No one has to tell you again that Zedd and Kahlan were right to name you Seeker. You're a rare person. And you were right: me being here _has_ changed the outcome of things. But you'll still defeat Darken Rahl. I diverted you; you chose to split off and help me without even knowing who I was . . . I don't know if I'd ever fully understand it."

"It was right," he managed, swallowing past the lump in his throat. She smiled and squeezed his hand, fighting past a new surge of tears as she looked to Kahlan.

"If the dead can miss the living in the Underworld," she said, "I think it's very possible I might miss you most of all, Kahlan." Now the Mother Confessor had her hand, tightly. "If you hadn't helped me when I discovered Confession . . . I don't even want to think of what would have happened. I've learned a lot from you, about this world, about why things are they way they are . . . You even made me look at myself differently, through the lens of things I would have taken for granted. Thank you . . ."

The world around her was fading, seeming less and less substantial, turning to fog at the edges. She needed to close her eyes, to sleep . . . "Mistress?" Tolian grasped her shoulder. "Mistress, what about the Dagger of Dawn? Can't it help you?"

Eylara shook her head, her eyes slitting open again. "I don't see how, Tolian." She took a few breaths. "But . . . before I Confessed you, you said I had what could have saved me all this time. Did you mean the Dagger?" He nodded.

Suddenly, Zedd reached out and grabbed the other wizard by his sleeve. "You know what it's made of, don't you?" Hesitantly, Tolian nodded again. "Well, out with it!"

"The blade is made of silenced quillion. All it needs is the Word of Warrendt spoken over it, and it should work."

"Silenced quillion?" Zedd slapped a hand to his forehead. "Zeddicus, you old fool! Of course!"

"What's 'silenced quillion'?" asked Richard.

"A form of quillion the Wizards of the Order of Warrendt created centuries ago," the wizard replied. "The second head of the Order made it so that it could only be used fully when an incantation invented by the original head, Warrendt, was spoken. It was a way for them to prevent their own crystals from being used against them after the Rahl bloodline came to power. Some of the crystals were rumored to have been forged into weapons."

"Tolian." Still weeping, the wizard turned to look at Kahlan. "If you want to help your mistress, you need to go get the Dagger of Dawn as fast as you can and bring it back here." His eyes widening, he sprang up and ran for the prison.

With surprising strength, Eylara gripped Zedd's arm. "Do you know the words, Zedd?"

He shook his head. "I'm not of the Order of Warrendt," he told her. "But Tolian is, or else he wouldn't have recognized the Dagger. You can tell him to speak the Word of Warrendt."

"Will the Dagger work by itself?"

"No. It's just like normal quillion once it's activated. Which is why Aiden had better get back here in short order."

"Or you'll give him a tail?"

Zedd smiled at her. "It's good to see you're keeping a sense of humor."

She coughed again. "I've got strength enough to fight a little longer if there's a chance it could work."

Tolian returned, carrying the crystal blade. He dropped shakily to his knees beside her, panting for breath. "Here it is, Mistress Eylara! I have it. What should I do with it?"

"I'll tell you . . . when Aiden comes back," she whispered. "Just wait . . ." Galloping hooves could be heard approaching along the western wall. Zedd carefully let her head down to the ground and got up. Her eyes were drifting closed. "I need to sleep . . . just for a little bit . . ."

Kahlan clutched her hand hard enough to hurt, lightly striking the side of her face a few times when she shut her eyes. "Not yet, Eylara; stay with us. Just a few more minutes . . ." It was hard for her to listen. She wasn't sure if the sounds she heard were real anymore. A few seconds of clarity forced her eyes back open and a couple of focused, deep breaths into her lungs. She _had_ to stay . . . had to . . .

Aiden flew through the gate, Zedd's horse in tow. The wizard hurried to rummage through one of his saddlebags, coming away with the two flat obelisk boxes that held the quillion. The rebel came to her side as Zedd arranged the artifacts around her. Her eyes found his, and she tried to smile. "Hello, my friend," she rasped.

Aiden's vision blurred, and he fought to blink the moisture back. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, trying to laugh. "I was just getting to know you, and Mother will be really unhappy if she finds out you left without saying goodbye."

"Eylara . . ." She couldn't turn her head anymore, but she blinked and strained her gaze over to look at Zedd, who moved a bit so that she could see him easier. "We have the quillion. Just tell Tolian what to do with the Dagger, and we can get to work."

The other wizard leaned over her to look at her face, and her sight flicked over to him. "Tolian, speak . . . speak the Word of Warrendt over the Dagger . . . awaken it . . ." Her eyes fell shut, and her breathing shortened. Tolian began to panic.

Zedd grabbed his shoulder. "Quickly, Tolian. She's depending on you."

The wizard gripped the Dagger of Dawn firmly, held it before him, and swallowed hard as he recited the incantation in a shaking voice. "_Cal ri'ath verregen Warrendt, timmacht hathon quil'an rai selon zennat akt."_

Nothing happened.

Zedd balked, but realized the problem quickly. "The Rada'Han. Tolian, speak the words again." The wizard did as he was told, and Zedd listened carefully. "Good. Now let me have the Dagger." Hesitantly, Tolian handed it to him. Zedd wrapped his fingers securely around the pommel and repeated the Word of Warrendt.

The crystal blade flared to life, a heatless white flame that all of them had to turn away from. The awakening power then dimmed, and the blade came to rest full of deep, brilliant blue luminescence. Immediately, it began drawing magic from the woman on the ground. Zedd set it down and reached across to open one box and then the other. Three working as one, the quillion artifacts brightened, glowing steadily as they took hold of Eylara's magic. Zedd watched them carefully, making sure that none were about to overload. The streams of the draining pull between the girl and the crystals were effortless, working perfectly.

All at once, a blue-white flash of light passed over her, dissipating rapidly after reflecting in the eyes of the two soldiers and Tolian. As though coming out of a trance, they shook their heads clear of a fog. Tolian jumped up, and the soldiers moved to draw their swords. Before they had a chance, Aiden had his crossbow trained on one, while Richard had the Sword of Truth out and pointed at the other. Zedd reached out toward the other wizard and held him fast with a grip of restraint. "Thank you for your help, Wizard of Warrendt," he said, smiling at his rival's helplessness and glancing at his neck. "A Rada'Han. A permanent decoration, I presume?" Tolian, released from Eylara's Confession, scowled and said nothing. Richard had the soldiers disarm themselves and was working with Aiden to bind them. Zedd released Tolian and had him join his fellow captives.

In the meantime, Kahlan was closely watching Eylara, trying to figure out what had happened. She knew the only way for someone who had been Confessed to be released was for the Confessor who had done it to die. Eylara wasn't dead, but it was almost as if she wasn't truly alive, either. She was motionless, her breathing barely betraying what little life might have remained in her. Anyone looking at her would have presumed her dead. Zedd returned, watching what Kahlan was doing. When she stopped, she looked at the wizard questioningly. "Are we too late?"

"I don't know," he answered quietly. "She's . . . suspended, somewhere in between here and the Underworld. As a world-walker, perhaps she's come to a crossroads and must decide where her path now lies. Or . . . maybe something, someone higher is deliberating over her. We just need to give her time."

They observed her in silence for an eternal hour. Midnight came and went, and all around was still, as if the world itself was waiting to see what would happen to her. "We can't stay here," said Aiden after a time. "That other patrol is on it's way back; there's no telling when it'll get here."

They fashioned a stretcher that could be carried between two horses and got her onto it, but not without much difficulty. They had to keep the quillion near her without breaking the flow of magic between them, and once she was on the stretcher, they had to find a way to keep the crystals secured to her so that they wouldn't fall or become separated as they moved. Finally, Richard, Kahlan, Zedd, Aiden, Lanick and the eight surviving rebel horsemen were on the road back to Cantorwick with three prisoners and Eylara in tow. It would be a three-hour endeavor at their slow pace, but there was no hurry.

After the group left the fort, Zedd started a fire along the western wall. It was a slow burn, not an immolating blast, and would keep the returning patrol occupied for some time. Fort Henatir smoldered in their wake, a message to the oppressed that the few could overcome the many and, to the oppressors, that the few _would_.


	11. Chapter 11: Crossroads

**11 - ****Crossroads**

Eylara wasn't sure whether or not she was actually asleep. She felt as though she might be somewhere else entirely. The woods around her seemed so familiar. It was early spring; the trees were just beginning to blossom, and the pines among them were growing fresh needles. Strangely, the bark of every tree she passed looked like it had been through a recent fire. There was no ash on the ground, only dead pine needles and leaves with tufts of new grass showing here and there. Dry creek beds interrupted the ground through out the forest. The sun shown warmly through the branches, and she could hear the pleasant chirping of birdsong. As she walked slowly along, she gazed southward toward a vast, green valley rimmed with mountains. It was beautiful . . . but she wondered what she was doing there.

She had a sudden impression of someone walking with her, of bright, benevolent golden eyes watching her. Yet, as she glanced around, there was no one to be seen. The impression wouldn't go away, but the presence was surrounding, protecting, comforting.

There were words, but she didn't hear them so much as she felt them. They were in her heart. _Waken your memory, child_, they said. And she did. She remembered. The landscape of her mind recalled it.

She sighed and sat down against a thick trunk near the bank of the largest dry riverbed she'd come across yet. "I know I said I'd deal with the consequences of leaving. Did I? Was that all there was for me to do there?"

_The choice is yours._

"But I left myself in higher hands. That's what let me come here, let me know something I wouldn't have otherwise. Why is it up to me all of a sudden?"

_Do not all people have the freedom to choose? You became willing to sacrifice yourself in order to further what is right. You didn't let the power you experienced drive you to abuse it. You used it to help others. That was what the hope was for you. You learned what it was intended you would learn, Eylara. And you learned not to fear it. You embraced it, even as it threatened your very being. The choice is yours._

"Leave to an existence where nothing can ever trouble me again, or go back and live out my appointed years?" She rubbed her neck and chuckled. "You'd think the answer would be so obvious . . ."

_It is. But you know well enough that the life you are given is a gift. It should be lived to it's fullest. You have done as much in your short time as some people do in the full length of their years. How much more do you think you can do?_

She smiled. "You know I love a challenge. And I know who is always with me. I know whom I'm going to when I die. I'm not afraid to live."

The presence around her smiled back, warming her very soul. A stream of fluid light began trickling down the middle of the riverbed, steadily growing. _Then there is one thing you must do. You asked to be used for something that your chosen world needs. This is how you shall._ Eylara watched the rising water-light, nodding slowly. It was something that made complete sense to her. Somehow, she knew it was the true form of what she had been becoming in her old world of stifled magic, and something that had been shown to the fullest in the new one. It had always been part of her, and now it was something she would be able to embrace and control.

_Three more streams to fill, child. What do you choose?_

Eylara closed her eyes and named them unspoken. The forest around her slowly came into full bloom. Three streams and a river ran healthy and full with rushing light and life. Finally, after days of barely feeling whole and human, she felt strong, vibrant . . . _alive_.

Full of light, she drifted. Then, the brilliance softly fading to comforting darkness, she slept.


	12. Chapter 12: Life Rewritten

**12 - ****Life Rewritten**

It was mid-morning. The inn was empty, but it was Sorcha's doing. She said that it was closed for repairs, which wasn't entirely true. She had just wanted to be sure that the young woman upstairs would get the best sleep possible. Now, she sat at her largest table with her son, the wizard, the Mother Confessor and the Seeker. They all had mugs full of one drink or another, but none of them had been touched. They were waiting, still worrying in spite of themselves.

The quillion had finished with her a few hours before dawn. They had all kept watch over her until then, catching a bit of sleep here and there. Then, just as the sun came up, her breathing opened up, falling into the deep, even pattern of sleep. Her presence in the room had suddenly become very real once again, her spirit blossoming within her, full of surety and resolve. Knowing beyond a doubt that she lived, they left her, sleeping until only an hour before their present state. When the floor above them creaked, they had all stopped their conversation. Now, the sound of light, booted footfalls started slowly down toward them, and all eyes turned to the stairs.

Eylara came to stand in the middle of the floor in front of them, a tall, hale young woman full of renewed strength and essence. Her appearance had changed drastically, but she was still clearly the girl they had come across six days earlier. Her skin was fair, but no longer pale and marred by the magical fracturing. Her eyes were clear, brilliantly sapphire blue and lively. There was no frailty of being exuding from her, only a light air of recovery from someone who had been through a harrowing ordeal. She was simply Eylara Bardehaven, the world-walker who had finally come to rest, and to live. She looked around at the faces turned to her, a smirk rising to her lips as a slight awkwardness from the scrutiny colored her cheeks. They slowly stood, almost hesitantly coming closer to her. She broke into a grin. "Well . . . hi."

A laugh rippled through the group, and everyone embraced her, including Sorcha and Aiden. The motherly innkeeper was trying not to cry. "You must be hungry," she said with a sniff and a flutter of her hands, quickly turning away and bustling about the hearth. Eylara laughed brightly and sat down beside Zedd, who mentioned the fact that they were all hungry. Aiden helped his mother while they talked about all that had come to pass at the fort.

Eylara told them what she could remember of the place between and the forest of her mind, but she kept most of her conversation with the presence to herself. "I was allowed to choose what to keep then," she said. "Three things. And . . . there was one thing I was _told_ to keep."

"So what are they?" asked Richard.

Eylara smiled. "I kept the empathy, but not the pulsing. It felt like cheating, I guess. I also have sight magic, and healing."

She was quiet for a moment after that, enough to be disconcerting. It was Kahlan who pressed her to continue, but she had the distinct impression that she was going to hear something she wished she wouldn't. "What was the fourth thing, Eylara?" The girl's face flickered between a small smile and something else unreadable, and she pressed her lips together as she looked at Kahlan in silent response. The Confessor read what was there clearly and gave a slow, subtle shake of her head. "Eylara . . ."

"It was what I was told to keep, Kahlan. It's sort of what I already naturally was in my old world," she said. She let herself smile again. "But even if it hadn't been, I think I would have chosen the Confessor's power."

"Both sides of it?"

"It wouldn't be complete without both."

"How strong?"

"Five hours to recover, so pretty strong, I guess."

"_Very_ strong," Kahlan corrected her. She gave a slow, pensive sigh. "Why?"

"It's needed here. The people of the Midlands look to the Confessors, especially you, for guidance and justice. Soon, it may be only you. What the Confessors are committed to are things that I already hold highly in my heart. I know what living the life of a Confessor means, and it's something I'm willing to deal with. It was an easy choice." Kahlan stood up, looking as though she might pace the room in thought, but Eylara fixed her eyes to hers and stood up as well. "See into me, Kahlan. What can you find? I won't waver from what I've said . . . and you know it."

Kahlan folded her arms and read Eylara's countenance for a moment longer. "Sincerity." She sighed again and glanced away. "And commitment. You've been set on it since Dorivan, haven't you?"

Eylara smirked again. "And there isn't anything to be done about it now, is there?" Kahlan looked back to her and shook her head again, giving a small smile of her own. "Mother Confessor," she said, "I give my life over to that of the Confessors, to the people of the Midlands, to uphold truth, peace and justice. Will you accept me?"

"I accept you, my Sister," said Kahlan, "and welcome you." Eylara grinned, and the two women embraced. Zedd stood and placed his hands on their shoulders.

Eylara then turned to Richard. "I also pledge my life to the Seeker," she said, "now that I _have_ a life I can dedicate to the cause."

Richard hugged her about the shoulders. "It'll be great to have you around," he said as they sat back down to the food Sorcha had finished for them.

After their meal, Zedd handed a familiar object across the table to her. "I believe this belongs to you."

Eylara took the Dagger of Dawn, holding it up and looking through the blade with a chuckle. Since the quillion had been filled, the crystal blade had taken on a constant blue sheen. Zedd explained that it was no danger to her since it was full and that there was much more to be learned about it. "Incredible little thing," she observed. "All this time - quillion!"

"Yes, well, unfortunately that other fool Tolian was the only way any of us would have known," Zedd scoffed. "The ways of this world absolutely baffle me sometimes." Eylara agreed.

The next morning, the four of them prepared to leave Cantorwick in search of the third Box of Orden, which had been Richard's pursuit before Eylara had come along. Aiden came out to help them, and he carried a bundle that he handed to Eylara. She opened it to find another set of travel garb. "Another 'loan' from your sister's wardrobe?" she teased.

"She won't miss it, trust me," Aiden laughed. She thanked him and put it in one of her saddlebags. In spite of his humor, Eylara was picking up a rather odd mix of emotions from him that she couldn't readily sort through. "So, you're a Confessor now. I guess that means you can't stick around anywhere, really."

Eylara shook her head, smiling apologetically. "Besides, I'm helping the Seeker now, and I've still got a lot to learn about my abilities. Who better to be around for that than Kahlan and Zedd?"

"Good point." Aiden helped her tighten the saddle on the horse she'd been given to use. "But, if you're ever around Cantorwick again, I expect you to drop by. I still need to show you the big rooms in the caverns."

She laughed and hugged him. "I will, I promise." He helped her up onto her horse and watched with the rest of the town as the four travelers left.

Zedd contemplated their new companion as they rode along. She was going to be an asset; there was no mistaking that. With a true heart and strong will along with the mind of a student, she was going to learn quickly. She probably wasn't aware that she had been left with an open end in her magic: the potential to grow in her abilities. Granted, it would take most of her life to realize the full implications of that . . . but he would let her discover it for herself. She had nothing to fear from the power any longer. He just hoped that they could continue to be good mentors and friends to her.

Eylara looked over her shoulder at him. He wondered if she'd heard him . . . but no. She had left that talent behind her. "Come on, Zedd!" she called with a smile. "You're thinking too loudly."

Zedd made a face and urged his horse to catch up. "Have patience, child!" he said. "An old man in his thoughts isn't someone to be rushed; you never know what he's digging up for your benefit. Lesson number one for you."

"Watch out for his lessons," Richard said in a low voice, leaning over so she could hear. "You never know what number he'll make up for you next."

"I heard that, boy," Zedd grumbled. Eylara laughed along with the others. She knew she was where she belonged. She eagerly looked forward to the new life she had fallen into, as trying as it might become.

She was ready.


End file.
